Robert "Bob" Allen Jeffcoat's Obituary
Bob Jeffcoat
Robert Allen Jeffcoat (Bob) was the youngest of nine children. He was born to Robert Lawrence and Isabell Jeffcoat in Lubbock, Texas, June 26, 1935.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Les, Loyd, Bud, and Prentice Jeffcoat, and his sisters, Sarah Russell, Dee Dowd, Rosie Wilkinson and Lois Bray. He is survived by his beloved wife, Dorothy; his two sons, Daniel Stage and his wife Susan, and Thomas Jeffcoat and his wife Diana; his two daughters, Peggy Sanders and her husband Calvin, Lisa Owens and her husband Gabe; eight beloved grandchildren, Sherry, Pamela, Jay, April, Russell, Matt, John, and Jacob; four great-grandchildren, Nico, Connor, Danny and Wes; and many nieces and nephews.
His family lived in New Deal, just outside Lubbock. He attended New Deal schools for all his 12 years, took an active part in all they had to offer, and graduated Valedictorian of his senior class. He was also very active in the Methodist Church. He worked in the cotton fields along with his parents, brothers, and sisters, and had fond memories of hitchhiking into Lubbock on a Saturday afternoon for the dime movies, mainly starring The Cisco Kid and Gene Autry.
After high school, Bob attended Texas Tech, majoring in mechanical engineering. He said you could tell who the engineering students were by the slide rules hanging from their belts — a very prestigious status symbol of that time.
After three years at Tech, Bob enlisted in the Army and was off to Boot Camp at Camp Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After attending schools in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey and Redstone, Alabama, he was assigned to a base in Germany, working on the Nike missiles. His next assignment was a NATO team based in France. He and his team traveled to all the NATO bases on a regular schedule and Bob saw as much of Europe as he could in his spare time also. His memories of his time in the service were very precious to him. He had the chance to go places he’s only dreamed of when growing up in West Texas.
After discharge from the military, he returned to Dallas. His parents had since moved there from New Deal. At a Halloween party that fall, he met his future wife, Dorothy. She was working for Texas Instruments, and he had been hired to start there the next month also. They were married the following April. Dorothy had two children from a previous marriage, Danny and Peggy. Bob loved them dearly and they returned the love full measure. Dorothy teased him that one week he was single, the next – married, the father of two, and Assistant Scout Master of Troop 750.
Bob and Dorothy had two more children, Tommy and Lisa, and he adored them. Just as he had taken an active part in everything when he was a boy, he was active and interested in all that his kids were involved in – Scouts, band, science projects – whatever came along. He spent many a Saturday launching the experimental rockets that Tommy built and entered in science fairs, and rumor had it that one such rocket carried a passenger – an ill-fated mouse that gave its life to science.
Bob spent all his career years at TI – 35 years in all. He worked in Repair and Maintenance, and for many of those years he was the supervisor of the computer shop. Long gone were the days of carrying a slide rule on his belt as he moved into a more modern world.
A heart attack and stroke in 1988 temporarily robbed him of his ability to read and made it impossible for him to continue as a supervisor but when the doctor started to fill out disability papers for him, he said “I’m not disabled. I just can’t read, but I can still fix computers.” And so, he went back to TI and fixed computers. The men he worked with were happy to have him back in any capacity. They were a close-knit group and their friendship continues. All who can still make it still meet every Tuesday morning at McDonald’s for coffee and just to visit.
After retirement, Bob and Dorothy traveled some, but their favorite pastime was dancing. They square-danced and round danced. Round dance was their favorite – the cha-chas, the rhumbas, and especially the waltz. The lyrics of one of the old country songs sums it all up: “when you look at me with those stars in your eyes, I could waltz across Texas with you.”
Bob was not a complicated man. What you saw was what you got. And what you got was a generous man who was unfailingly kind to all he met, an honest man whose word was his bond, a good friend, and a loving husband and father.
A funeral service for Bob will be held Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10:30 am in the Wildwood Chapel located in Restland Memorial Gardens, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75243.
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