Robert "Bob" Starbird

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, Robert "Bob" Lewis Starbird, 80, passed away with his family nearby on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017, at Centennial Hills Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev.

He was born on Sept. 30, 1936, in Opheim, Mont., to parents Lou and Violet Starbird. He attended all 12 years of school in Opheim and graduated in 1955. Following graduation, he served in the Navy from June of 1955 to June of 1958. In 1961, he became a member of the Opheim Officer's Association as a site engineer. From there, he and his wife, Myrna, moved to Socorro, N.M., where he worked on the White Sands Missile Range.

While he was working in New Mexico, he was contacted by EG&G Energy Measurements to work in Las Vegas. In 1965, he and Myrna moved to Las Vegas, and accepted a position as a project engineer at the Nevada Test Site, where he worked for more than 45 years. The last 11 of those 45 years, he commuted back and forth from Las Vegas to New Mexico working for the Sandia National Laboratories.

He was a great family man and a loving husband and father. He married Myrna in Glasgow, Mont., on Aug. 30, 1955, and the couple had four children together. He was always a man of few words, but when he spoke everyone should have been listening because what he did say was something insightful or hilarious. He enjoyed taking on new projects, going on walks, taking daily visits to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, fixing anything and everything, and being with family. His family and friends will always remember him as the person who was always there, whether it was attending his children's or grandchildren's sporting events or fixing daycare equipment at Christ Lutheran Church; he was always there.

He is preceded in death by his two sons, Ronald and Donald Starbird; and one brother, Richard Starbird.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Myrna (Hedalen) Starbird; two children, Robert Starbird and his wife, Karen, and Vickie Starbird; one brother, Tom Starbird; one sister, Sharon Starbird; eight grandchildren, Robert Starbird and his wife, Rachel, Jared Starbird, Josh Starbird, Ashley Starbird, Cody Starbird, Joseph Vitale and his wife, Jojo, Kaylee Vitale, and Jeremy Vitale; and two great-grandchildren, Jace and Rylie Starbird.

A funeral was scheduled on Aug. 14, at 1 p.m., at Christ Lutheran Church (111 N. Torrey Pines Dr, 89107) with a reception following at the church.