11/08/1941-08/09/2022
Robert (Bob) Yeager, 80, of Rialto, passed away Tuesday, August 9th of a broken heart.
Born in Oklahoma, he moved to Kansas as a teen with his family. Being tall, smart and humorous he had no shortage of girlfriends (once going "steady" with girls from different towns at the same time...until it turned out they were best friends and he got caught!). That all changed when he met a small-town girl and the love of his life, Mary Donham, and he was smitten, telling his mother he had just met the girl he was going to marry.
The two were soon married and the high school valedictorian turned college basketball and baseball (also playing semi-pro) jock turned his sights to a career. He loved the thought of flying but discovered he was too tall to become a miliary pilot. But with his love of science and flair for math, he instead pursued aerospace engineering. Shortly after marriage he and his wife moved to Alabama where they both worked for NASA via Boeing and he worked on the Saturn V moon shot rocket, one of his proudest accomplishments. He went on in his 40+ year career to work on the space shuttle, the stealth fighter jet and other miliary aircraft.
Bob loved science, history, comedians and video games (even teaching his grandkids a thing or two). He was quick with a joke..."Watch out! There are garments on your back. And I bet you have ancestors too!". And he always brought up funny stories of family adventures every time he talked to someone, family member or not.
Bob and Mary had three children, Theresa, Brian and Eric, who he taught to love and respect nature, how to fish and how to think for themselves. Predeceased by Mary, his wife and best friend, he is survived by his three children, his daughters-in-law, Rachel and Gena and his six grandchildren, Brandon, Jason, Ashley, Ezekiel, Abigail and step-grandson Jacob.
The funeral service for Bob will be held at the chapel at the Hermosa Gardens Cemetery in Colton on Friday, Sept 2nd at 10 am.
