Robert Bottenberg

Dr. Robert Alan Bottenberg, age 98, passed away on Saturday, March 11, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas, surrounded by his loving family. He was born on September 25,1924 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Homer and Grace Hay Bottenberg.

He had loving parents, enjoyed time with extended family, excelled in school, became an Eagle Scout, and began his love of travel with his parents as they ventured every summer on two-week road trips.

Bottenberg left junior college to join the Army in 1944. He was sent to the front where metal fragments from a German artillery shell penetrated his skull and blinded him permanently, an event that changed his life forever, but never defined it.

“Well, Andy, it looks like I will have to start over,” he told Andy Richnafsky, who guided a wounded Bottenberg from the battlefield. That comment came one day after entering the Army field hospital where Richnafsky was also being treated for wounds. With that attitude of always looking forward, coupled with rehab and a multitude of services that helped him adapt to his blindness, Bottenberg married his hometown sweetheart, Gene, fathered three daughters, earned bachelor’s (Phi Betta Kappa), master’s, and PhD degrees, and knocked down barriers to countless activities during his life.

After completing his PhD course work at Stanford in 1953, Bottenberg went to work for the Personnel Research Laboratory at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He rose through the ranks there and became its director. He was a pioneer in the use of computers and data analytics to formulate Air Force human resources policies. In 1963, he co-authored with Joe H. Ward, Jr., the book, "Applied Multiple Linear Regression," a classic in the field of applied statistical techniques.

He was awarded the President’s Trophy for Handicapped American of the Year in 1972.

He knew how to play, too. He learned to snow ski in 1973 at the National Handicap Sports Center in Winter Park, CO. He and Gene traveled there and skied at least once annually for the next 26 years. On his 90th birthday, one of his former ski guides recalled that they never had time to stop for photos because Bob wanted to keep up his ski run total for the day.

He taught Gene and his three daughters to drive a stick shift. He devised a system of stakes and ropes to guide him as he mowed his own lawn, built his daughters a wooden playhouse, maintained his in-ground sprinkler system, and designed and erected a wooden deck and a staircase to reach it in his steep back yard. He sawed every step riser and deck board by hand, because try as he might, he failed to convince Gene of the wisdom of a power saw. Mayor Lila Cockrell cut the ribbon for the deck dedication at a backyard party attended by family and friends.

He loved travel and the beach. He and Gene took multiple cruises and in 1996 hosted their three daughters, their husbands, and grandchildren on a week-long New Year’s cruise in the Caribbean. He was a proponent of education and attended the high school and college graduations of every grandchild possible. He enjoyed a good tease and liked to tell his girls, when they asked what was for dessert, that they were having chocolate covered nails. At a pre-wedding gathering for daughter Julia, her mother-in-law Eva Brooks asked what he did with the land he had inherited in Kansas. “I run a herd of blind cattle,” Bottenberg deadpanned. He was generous, helpful, thoughtful, independent, strong, and had a sense of humor.

On more than one occasion after meeting a new infant family member, he explained to the baby in his arms that life will likely throw some challenging events his or her way. Don’t worry, just persevere and things will get better.

He listened to a wide variety of “talking books” for the blind. He had a wealth of knowledge of music and composers and a love for classical music, Lawrence Welk, musicals, and his beloved Grace Presbyterian Church music.

He was an early adopter of the personal computer in the 1980s. The Veterans Administration offered him one complete with training on voice software that read what appeared on the screen. He became proficient and produced the scripts for toasts, thank yous, birthday greetings, and other family happenings. He kept track of his investments, banking, and income taxes by scanning documents and having them read back to him by the software.

Bottenberg was both a national and local president of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and mentored newly blinded veterans and youth. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club and an Elder and Sunday School teacher at Grace Presbyterian Church in San Antonio where he and Gene were members for 70 years.

In 1982, he was named the Handicapped Employee of the Year in the Air Force.

His work with the Blinded Veterans Association was key to the organization’s success in providing needed services for blinded veterans, according to Stuart Nelson, BVA director of public relations. Bottenberg was BVA president for the first time in 1958 and worked hard to earn the BVA’s Congressional charter that year.

“That one event in BVA’s history may be in the top three of importance,” Nelson said. “Without it the organization could never have been able to have the voice that it has had with the legislative branch. All kinds of legislative accomplishments for blinded veterans have resulted from it throughout the past 65 years or so. It’s unimaginable what things would have been like without it.”

The family is grateful for the years of attentive care provided by the angels and heroes from Avionn Home Healthcare. Special thanks to caregivers Sonia Rojas, Irene Figueroa, Yazmin Muniz, Lisa Ramirez, Olivia Perez, Barbara Kazior, Elizabeth Luna, and to Debbie Jacobs and Vesta Flaggert.

Bottenberg was preceded in death by his wife Gene and parents Grace and Homer Bottenberg. Robert is survived by daughters, Julia Brooks (Tom), Ann Schindler (Bill), and Janet Stafford; grandchildren, Kevin Schindler (Courtney), Christopher Brooks, Amy Bortzfield (Doug), Marshall Stafford (Jennine), David Brooks (Jennie Latson), Julianne Lechtenberg (Erik), Lisa Brooks, and Garrett Stafford (Lisandra Matos); and eight great-grandchildren, Madison, Sophie, and Luke Schindler, Ryan Bortzfield, Jack and Clara Lechtenberg, Cooper Bott Stafford, and Garrett Stafford.

The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Saturday, March 25, 2023, at Porter Loring Mortuary.

FUNERAL SERVICESUNDAY, MARCH 26, 20232:00 PMGRACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH950 DONALDSON AVE

GRAVESIDE SERVICEMONDAY, MARCH 27, 20232:00 PMFORT SAM HOUSTON NATIONAL CEMETERY1520 HARRY WURZBACH RD

Pastor Larry Sears will officiate. Pallbearers will be Kevin Schindler, Christopher and David Brooks, Marshall and Garrett Stafford, Erik Lechtenberg, and Doug Bortzfield. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Grace Presbyterian Church, 950 Donaldson, San Antonio, TX 78229-3253, or the Blinded Veterans Association (bva.org).