Robert M. Dobbins

Robert Michael Dobbins Jr., 71 of Hilliard, Ohio died Friday July 17, 2020 at Mt. Carmel Grove City. He was born April 5, 1949 to Robert and Dorothy Dobbins. He was proceeded in death by his father, Robert M Dobbins (D. 1972), his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. He is survived by his mother, Dorothy Dobbins at Bear Lake; loving wife, Lyn Dee Dobbins; children, Robert M. Dobbins III, Kathryn (Stella) Shaw, and Jonathan (Jennifer Kish) Dobbins; grandchildren, Matthew, Isabella, and Jackson Dobbins; brothers, Charles Dobbins and James (Debora) Dobbins; cousins, Nancy Newhouse, Barbara Newhouse, Mary (Jeffrey) Halpainy, Richard (Lydia) Marien, Douglas (Marcia) Marien; brothers in law, Gary Belote, Kevin (Roberta) Belote; many nieces, nephews, and friends.

On June 12, 1971, he married Lyn Dee Belote at the United Methodist Church in Forestville, NY. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. The family jokes a lot about times when Bob would try to stay awake to spend time with them and end up falling asleep on the couch, in a chair, or their favorite was a story about a New Year's Eve many years ago when he fell asleep on the floor and ended up with his head under the couch. The kids thoroughly enjoyed teasing him about that one year and asking if he was planning on "staying up" to see in each New Year's since. He was there for his family when they needed to discuss housing projects, looking for a new cars, making any financial decisions, or putting their finances in a spreadsheet. His spreadsheets were huge and the way he worked with numbers was an art. His safety blanket was a scientific calculator, he was rarely without one or many.

His favorite place to be physically or mentally was Bear Lake, Stockton, NY. The original family property was purchased by his Grandfather and Grandmother Rawson before Bob's mom was born. She spent summers and other times at the lake and raised her three boys the same way. Spending as much time at the lake was ingrained into Bob which for him became his lifelong passion. He continued the family tradition and brought his three children to the lake for as much time as he could each year, no matter what state they lived in at the time. He had big plans / dreams since childhood to purchase extra lots and have a larger property up at the lake as this was where he planned to retire. He was able to make part of that dream come true. This past spring he was fortunate enough to buy the last piece of the puzzle, squaring off his land. His hope was to have his children and grandchildren continue the care and love of Bear Lake as he always had in life.

Bob was a man who appreciated details and how things were built. He also loved learning about individuals he met and would spend a great deal of time getting to know them and asking questions. This was both in his personal life and professional life. The stories the family have already started hearing is that he was a mentor to anyone, no matter their walk of life. He just wanted to help them in the ways he knew best. At the same time chatting with someone he would ask them about themselves and learn as much as he could about them and their culture, if different from his own.

Bob had a number of interests besides Bear Lake, granted that one might have been 99, but he did leave a little space for others. He enjoyed lighthouses, mainly because his Grandfather was a Mechanic in the Lighthouse Service on the Great Lakes and Great Grandfather was a light house keeper in Buffalo, NY. He visited many lighthouses around the country, admiring how they were built. Really the interest in how structures were built went way beyond lighthouses, he would take note in any new place he walked to see how the building looked and was put together. He would talk to anyone who worked in the building about what they liked or disliked about the building. He did this everywhere including to the nurses on the morning of his surgery.

He received an Associate's Degree from Erie Technical College in 1969 and his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tri State College in 1972. After college, he went to work surveying for Jack Woodbury, then he surveyed for Jenkins and Erickson out of Jamestown, NY. He did his first move for a job and he and wife, Lyn Dee moved to Virginia so he could work on the DC Metro Stations for Granite Construction Company out of Watsonville, CA. What is now known as Reagan National Airport Metro Station was one of the major projects he work on while in VA. After this job he, Lyn Dee, Bob III, and Katie moved back to western NY where he went to work for the Niagara Frontier Transit authority on the new Rapid Transit System in Buffalo. He decided he was not built to be a government employee so went to work for Blount Brothers out of Montgomery, AL working on the PPG World Headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. Saw the project from a hole in the ground to the building enclosed and the spires lit up. They saw his promise as an Estimator and after being told this once before and declining the thought, accepted and off the family, now including Jon, went to Chicago. He had some wonderful mentors who taught him the art of the hard bid. He found a new opportunity with Gilbane Building Company where he learned how to do conceptual estimates but he was still just as detailed doing those as in a hard bid. He was picked to help open the Gilbane office in Columbus where he went from an estimator to Chief Estimator. After 20 years, he again was called to job site work and went to Woodlands, TX to build the Exxon Mobil Research campus. He saw this project from concept to completion and was very proud to be a part of it. Still not ready to retire, he went off to work in the San Antonio office and on the Corona Modelo projects in Mexico.

If you didn't know this, Bob loved desserts. After most family meals he would ask "so what's for dessert" and most of the time he wasn't joking. If nothing was ready, he'd want to know how long it would take to get something made so he could have his dessert. Some of his favorites were chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, and pies. He also loved ice cream and that usually worked if nothing was planned, because he would go fix a milkshake. His kids wonder what kind of desserts he's getting now.

Please leave comments with stories of Bob for his family. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to one of the following organizations in his name; Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (pancan.org), Lustgarten Foundation (lustgarten.org), or American Cancer Society (cancer.org). There are no services planned at this time, possible celebration of life July 2021. Arrangements by Schoedinger Worthington Chapel.