Robert Charles Lovetinsky

LOVETINSKY, PARKER, HAYSLETT

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 5/7/2018 at 15:59:20

Robert Charles Lovetinsky was a son, a brother, a husband and a father. He was a man of depth and interest and a man of curious charm. Born 13th April 1928, to Edward and Cora Lovetinsky, Robert was their second son of eight children. Bob grew up at the family home in South Crescent Street in Iowa City and later on the farm at Lone Tree. Life was tough in those early days and Bob learnt farming from his dad and Uncles Robert and Harvey Prizler (Senior) which gave him great grounding for his engineering career later in the military.

John, Bob’s younger brother, recalls as a teenager, that Robert would take his car downtown to race and do donuts so that the police would chase…he’d take off and let them follow and he’d quickly choose a garage to hide in and let the ‘cops’ sail past, such was his sense of fun and boyish pranks.

Robert was proud to be in the US Air Force where he achieved Master Sergeant rank. Whilst in the military, Bob was fortunate to travel in the line of duty and in later life he kept many engrossed in the stories of his International travels. One such story goes that an aircraft had a faulty engine and Bob volunteered with a colleague to go to Rome to fix it, a two day job, leaving Bob and his friend a further 8 days to have fun in Rome. Bob loved to dance, loved excitement and seized the day. He was debonair and always had that lovely sparkle in his blue eyes that held promise of many a good story to entertain with about those service years.
Whilst serving in England Robert met and married Valerie Parker in 1957 and together they had a baby daughter, Dawn Andrea in 1964. Bob saw active service at this time and his travels took him to Guam and Spain. Bob left the Air Force in 1969 and moved to England for a short time and later Robert and Valerie were divorced.

Some years later Robert met and married Millie Hayslett in 1979 and enjoyed several years of family life involved with her children, six sons, Steve, Jim, Dan, Tim, Gary, Scott and four daughters, Jeanne, Debra, Laurie and Cathy. Millie passed in 2001 and Bob nursed her lovingly to the end and was a devoted step father and step grandfather.

After Millie’s passing, Robert turned his interests to his much loved dog, Babe. Such was Bob’s love of animals, on Babe’s birthday Bob would shoot off to HyVee and get the biggest steak cooked for her to enjoy! Bob was a big softy where animals were concerned and he’d regularly be found feeding the birds and squirrels from his porch on F street, even crushing up the nuts so the birds could eat them more easily, his neighbour, Cat, remembers.

Bob loved an event and for many years just loved State Fairs, Tractor Pulls and Dean recalls how he particularly loved an Air Show and would enjoy seeing the B52s he fondly worked on. Dawn remembers being a very little girl, not more than 4yrs and going in to work with her daddy and seeing the aircraft in the hangars and she too has picked up a love of Air Shows.

In 2013, Bob had a pretty bad health scare and ended up in the Hospital and a spell in Windmill Manor where he met nurse Ruth Harrington and had wonderful care to rehabilitate him enough to return to his home. Anyone who knew Bob will remember fondly how much he really disliked the time at Windmill Manor, vocalising daily that it was his ‘Prison’ and so the family rallied around him to get him back into his home. Oneth Lovetinsky took care of him for a while, with Ruth kindly stopping in to check on him too from time to time and assist him with regular ‘Skype’ times with Dawn, in England. He really looked forward to these Skype sessions, marking the date on his calendar and felt lucky to have the technology brought to his home, made possible by Ruth, to bring his family right into his living room from across the big ‘Pond’. Later and until his passing, Bob was very fortunate to have the dedicated home care of Bonnie and Peggy, two most exceptional carers, who had such a special bond with him. Bonnie and Peggy gave him much love and care to facilitate him enjoying home life rather than that of a care facility and they would take him out to run errands, visit his favourite eating places such as Village Inn and Arby’s and do some shopping.

In Bob’s final years his brothers John and Dean took an active part of his care attending to his personal affairs and spending time sharing breakfasts and lunch dates with him… this was a great time for brotherly catch ups and putting the world to rights as Bob so often loved to do!

Robert is survived by his daughter Dawn and his granddaughter Lydia, both from Oxford, England. He is also survived by brothers, Wayne and wife Dorothy, John and wife Mary, Richard, and Dean and wife Marlee, cousins, Harvey (Junior) and his children Chris and Tyler, nephews, John, Larry, Mike, Ed, Alan, Troy and Jaimie and nieces, Sandy, Jan, Kelly, Carla and Katie.

Donations please to the Salvation Army or Robert Charles Lovetinsky memorial fund where the proceeds will be going to the Hospice who cared for Bob in his final days and who do such a brilliant job caring sensitively for those at the end of their journey.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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