After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin as a Distinguished Military Graduate, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Air Force on September 30, 1964. He served for thirty years in the USAF Office of Special Investigations, beginning his career as a Special Agent at Olmsted AFB, Pennsylvania. He was then assigned to the Vietnamese Language School in Washington, DC in preparation for his tour of duty in Saigon, Vietnam. Following Vietnam, Bob took command of the OSI detachment at Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. His overseas career included an assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy. He was then given command of the OSI Detachment at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where he worked extensively on anti-terrorism efforts. He also served three tours in the Washington, DC area, residing in Reston and Oak Hill, VA. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit (two awards), Bronze Star Medal for service in the Republic of Vietnam, Air Force Commendation Medal (two awards), Air Force Organizational Excellence Award (six awards), and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) Honor Medal Second Class, awarded for service in support of the RVN Air Force Office of Investigations combatting the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army shortly before the Tet Offensive in 1968.
Bob married Judy Ann Yeager of Austin, Texas on May 30, 1964, after their graduation from The University of Texas at Austin. After retiring from the Air Force in 1994, Bob worked in information technology until 2012. He was employed by several large, global IT consulting firms, and specialized in program and project management. Bob and Judy moved from the Washington, DC area in 2001 to Austin to be near their children, both of whom also graduated from The University of Texas at Austin.
Bob is survived by his wife, Judy Bassetti; two children, his son, Robert John Bassetti, daughter-in-law, Allison, and grandchildren Ciara and Maddox, and his daughter, Jennifer Bassetti Teague, son-in-law, Aaron, and grandson, William; his older brother, William Hart Charles Bassetti, of San Geronimo, California, and an older sister, Shirley Noe, of Buffalo Gap, TX.
He is preceded in death by his father, Robert Bassetti, of Abilene, Texas a long time elementary school teacher in Abilene, and mother, Olga Bassetti, a retired book keeper, also of Abilene.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six o’clock until eight o’clock in the evening, on Tuesday, the 30th of October 2012, at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas. A Rosary will be recited at seven o’clock that evening.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, the 31st of October 2012, at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, 4311 Small Drive, Austin, Texas. Interment will follow in Austin Memorial Park under the direction of Cook-Walden Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers and customary remembrances, the family suggests donations be made to the Arthritis Foundation, PO Box 96280, Washington, DC 20077.
Condolences may be sent to www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.
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