Uncle Bob (Robert William Boyd)Uncle Bob was a partner with George Boone in Component Sales of Smithtown, Long Island, New York, until retiring in 1993. Upon retirement he became activily involved in Barbershop singing. He continued to make frequent trips to Ohio to visit family and friends there.
During his working days, he often traveled through Ohio making sales calls, and when he did, he usually stopped to see my mom and dad. I will never forget that when I was about 12 years old, I got a casette tape recorder for Christmas. I only had one or two cassettes, and Uncle Bob came one time and gave me two or three new ones. That really impressed me that he would first of all care whether or not I had tapes, and then secondly give me tapes. Then one time we were talking about tapes and he mentioned how they would bind up. I showed him how I slapped them on the table to correct the problem and he was really impressed. More than one time after that, he would tell people or remind me that I had showed him how to do that. That made me really feel big.
Uncle Bob played the trumpet and he had a small one that he kept under the seat of his car. He said he would play it as he drove the interstates. He was a fairly accomplished trumpet player and played in church and other various occasions.
One time at our family retreat in Lakeside, he played along with a tape that one of the kids was playing, showing that he could hear a tune and pick it up and play it without any music.
He played in the band during his service in the US Army in 1946 in Germany.
Recorded
interview with John & Bob Boyd
Photos by
Bob Boyd
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