Floor Regulate to Main Bob Main Robert Alfred Grant, U.S. Air Drive, Ret. Adored husband, father, grandfather and uncle. Pilot. Athlete. Buddy. He lived his existence flying during the skies and biking around the earth, however he’s going to be remembered maximum for his kindness, his candy smile, and the exceptional method he controlled to be the entirety and far and wide for the folk he liked. He died peacefully in his house in Granite Bay, California, on September 14. He used to be 68. Bob used to be born in Hawaii in 1951, ahead of it used to be a state. His father, Larry Grant, had fallen in love with the islands whilst stationed there all over International Warfare II. After the conflict, Larry moved to Honolulu along with his spouse Jeanne, a educated opera singer from New York. They raised Bobby and his older brother, Billy, in Portlock, in a area on a hill between the sea and an outdated volcano. Through all accounts, he spent a lot of his adolescence sandy and barefoot, frame browsing the crashing waves of his loved seashores. He discovered early-on-how to harness the forces of nature, a capability that served him his complete existence. Bob attended heart and highschool at Punahou, a decade forward of President Barack Obama. Bob used to be a mischievous adolescence, in quest of adventures and incessantly getting himself or his buddies into innocuous hassle. One in every of his exploits at Punahou concerned the morning loudspeaker broadcast of the Nationwide Anthem, which blared around the campus. Bob and his co-conspirator, a fellow platoon member of his ROTC squad, deliberate to surprise their classmates the use of the Jimi Hendrix file which Bob had not too long ago purchased. Bob mentioned he would hang the door and stay a lookout, whilst his colleague put “Crimson Haze” at the P/A device at ear-splitting quantity. Inside seconds one of the most deans approached, Bob yelled a caution and right away fled, locking his hapless accomplice throughout the sales space to stand the results. The captured scholar refused to show Bob used to be his partner, and used to be due to this fact expelled from Punahou (mercifully the expulsion used to be in the end reversed). 20 years later, Bob atoned for his perfidy by way of saving the similar classmate from drowning at Makapuu seaside. After graduating from Punahou in 1970, Bob, like lots of his friends, selected to wait faculty at the U.S. Mainland and enrolled at Colgate College in New York State. However his method of having there used to be rather less orthodox. He stowed away on an plane to California and hitch-hiked the remainder of the way in which around the nation. When he had landed in California, he hung out tenting across the Sierra Nevada mountains close to Lake Tahoe. He didn’t comprehend it on the time nevertheless it used to be the world the place he would in the end come to are living out maximum of his existence. Two years into his time again East, Bob had grown homesick and transferred to the College of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu. There, he majored in Environmental Research. He spent his spare time taking part in goalie on an newbie football workforce, using his motorbike numerous instances across the island of Oahu and consuming do-it-yourself yoghurt. His plans to be an environmentalist modified at some point when a pal become a pilot and impressed Bob’s lifelong interest for aeronautics. Quickly afterwards, in 1975, Bob enlisted in america Coast Guard, went to flight college, and were given his pilot’s wings at Mather Air Drive Base close to Sacramento in 1977. He controlled to protected his first posting again house in Hawaii, close to Pearl Harbor. From there, semper paratus (the Coast Guard’s motto which means ‘at all times able’), he flew seek and rescue missions, touchdown on islands so small they have got no title and scouring the huge Pacific Ocean for misplaced boats. “Issues which can be misplaced get discovered”, he used to mention, with quiet assurance. After emerging to the rank of commander within the Coast Guard, he cut up his time serving as Main within the Air Drive reserves, and flying industrial, in the long run as a captain, with US Airlines (now American Airways). He used to be a very good aviator who certified to pilot dozens of plane, from A-330s and the large “Hercules” C-130s to the tiny Cessnas which he used to fly in loops along the majestic Pali mountains of Honolulu. The process his aviation occupation led him to many corners of the arena, together with regional locations throughout america and the grand towns of Europe. He flew meals help missions in Ethiopia and served in Operation Wasteland Hurricane. His army enjoy got here in specifically to hand on one industrial flight when he ordered an emergency touchdown after figuring out a lack of cabin force that the plane’s protection techniques didn’t stumble on that call stored 200 lives. Through the years he endured to spend his unfastened time on athletic interests, competing in triathlons just like the Iron Guy in Hawaii and the Get away from Alcatraz in San Francisco. He by no means neglected an instance to carry his loved bicycle with him on journeys. His circle of relatives considers him the unconfirmed international file holder for choice of miles flown in an plane along with his bicycle on board. Whilst different flight team contributors spent their layovers of their lodge rooms, Bob would take his motorbike out, using for miles and miles, exploring unfamiliar roads and making buddies with locals. Despite the fact that he did not discuss the language, he did not wish to. He mentioned all of it along with his heat, good-looking face and his middle on his sleeve. As a industrial airline pilot, he took explicit delight in his in-flight bulletins. Bob’s father have been a well-liked radio host in Hawaii, and Bob had inherited a velvety-timbered talking voice. He used this time to place passengers comfortable with amusing, pronouncing such things as “Girls and Gents, when you refuse stay your seat belt mounted whilst we’re within the air, I am gonna have to invite you to step out of doors”. Like in highschool, he nonetheless had a penchant for enjoying jokes over P/A techniques. Bob cast a distinct position within the hearts of too many of us to say. His warm-heartedness and boyish allure touched everybody he met. He used to be essentially the most glorious husband, father and grandfather that any one may just hope for. Within the early 1980’s, Bob won a switch from Hawaii to McClellan Air Drive Base in Sacramento in order that he might be close to his daughter, Maya. It used to be there, in September 1984, that he met the affection of his existence, Athena, with whom he used to be to percentage all of his last years. Their love used to be itself a pressure of nature – unconditional and unyielding – bridging reverse ends of the earth, with Bob from Hawaii and Athena from Greece. They settled in Granite Bay, close to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Bob coached adolescence football for his different daughter Maria, to whom he handed alongside his famous person goalie talents, and so a lot more. Bob used to be a herbal born trainer, with delicate persistence and soothing speech. However his largest lesson used to be one he taught with out pronouncing a phrase: he demonstrated, simply by being in his orbit, the comfortable energy of kindness. In his later years he would spend endless hours imparting his wisdom to his grandson, Joshua. They mentioned the entirety from chess methods and aviation, to the solar, the celebrities – and the heavens, which is the place we glance to seek out him lately, and at all times. Floating A long way above the moon. Bob is survived by way of his spouse, Athena Grant, his daughters Maya Grant Symon and Maria Iconomopulos, his son-in-law, Scott Symon, his grandson, Joshua Grant Symon, his nephew, Joshua Grant and his grand-nieces, Alexandra, Kaitlyn and Hailey Jeanne Grant.

Printed in The Sacramento Bee on Sep. 26, 2020.