On March 10th, Woodland Valley/Fawn Hill lost one of its’ long-time residents, Bob Downey. I believe he was 86 yrs. old. We know he had been suffering with COPD and on oxygen for the past few years and surmise it was complications that go with that disease.
Bob lived on Fawn Hill for many years and had the most gorgeous view of the Valley year round and he loved every minute it.
For those of you who knew Bob, his companion for the last 15+ years was his beloved dog Shadow. We always knew what time it was in the morning when we would hear Bob yelling “Shadow” to come back inside at 6 a.m. When Bob was hospitalized a few years ago after surgery, he paid to have Shadow sheltered nearby for months while he recovered. Shadow meant the world to Bob and he spared no expense. About 6 weeks ago he had to put his beloved dog down and 48 hrs. later he called an ambulance for himself and left Fawn Hill, never to return.
Bob was quite the interesting character. He always reminded me of Paul Bunyan type. He would tackle anything job and was always the tough True Grit guy ready, willing and able to assist with anything. Absolutely an ideal neighbor. Only in the past couple of years did he start to acknowledge the limitations that came with age.
I remember when Bob was putting a new roof on our house over 30 yrs. ago, and at that time he his 2nd wife Rita were living in Roxbury. We had a monsoon storm and started having leaks inside our house. We called him for advice on what we could do besides put pails around. Well Bob jumped in his car and showed up within the hour with a pile of tarps and goes up on our roof and tarps everything, at night, in the middle of this monsoon. That was Bob Downey.
I remember when my niece and her husband were using our house on Fawn Hill in the winter of 2003 and a terrible blizzard was coming. Bob went over to our house because he suspected these youngsters might not be ready. He got them stocked up on wood and showed them what to do to prepare. All of our grandnieces and nephews always loved to go over and play with Shadow and they were always welcome for a game of pool. Bob’s front door was always open.
Bob was better than any security system we could ever install. We used to always tell him when we had guests or family using our home because if he saw activity he wasn’t expecting, before you could blink, he’s be over there to see who they were and what were they doing. I remember forgetting once to tell him that our friends were going to use the house and after everything settled down and he was sure they were OK, they called us back to say that Bob had a tee shirt on that said “Shoot them first and let God sort it out later.” That was a perfect example of Bob’s hurly burly personality.
For anyone who ever had Bob over for dinner or gone out to dinner with him, he had some very definite ideas about what he would and would not eat. The only cheese that would pass his lips was Velveeta. And his drink of choice was 100 proof Old Grand Dad. We always had both on hand. The only way he would eat a steak was “Naked.” No onions or garlic on anything. Lettuce and tomato constituted the only salad he would eat and plain green string beans the only vegetable he liked and a plain baked potato. Gourmet dishes were verboten.
Bob suffered so many personal losses in his life and somehow always managed to pick himself up and carry on. He was made of emotional steel. Bob lost his first wife Maureen at the age of 43 from bone marrow cancer in the late 70’s/early 80’s and back then she had to be in a hermetically sealed bubble in the hospital and died in excruciating pain. Bob shared how hopeless he felt not being able to take care of her and not able to ever give her a goodbye hug or provide any physical comfort. A year later his oldest son, who was going into the Seminary, took a trip around the world first and was murdered in Frankfurt, Germany.
A few years later Bob met and married Rita Miller. She was a beautiful, elegant lady with gorgeous clothes and quite the contrast to Bob’s rough and ready style. Rita had previously been married to Phillip Miller who had put Niemen Marcus, Marshall Fields and Saks Fifth Ave on the map. Rita’s daughter Laura was a two term Mayor of Dallas Texas. Bob & Rita seemed so incongruous to me and I actually asked Rita, once we got to know each other, how this marriage ever happened and she simply said “Bob is the first man in my life that made me feel good about myself.” Compliments like that don’t come along very often. Then about 20 yrs. ago Rita was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Bob cared for her to such a degree that he finally quit the construction business because he was afraid to leave her alone. Eventually he had to put Rita in a Memory Care in Highland, NY and he faithfully went to visit her every weekend, even when it reached the stage where she no longer knew him. So much personal loss but he never complained. Complaining was never in Bob’s DNA.
We know he will be missed by all of his friends at The Legion. After losing Rita, the Legion became Bob’s 2nd home and so many of his buddies looked out for Bob like Chuck Bouton who made sure Bob’s driveway was plowed, or his grass mowed and that Bob always had what he needed. And neighbors up the street always did grocery shopping for him. Seems we all appreciated this big hearted tough guy for so many reasons. Fawn Hill will be missing Bob for a good long while. RIP my friend.
Bob is survived by his two remaining children. Patti his daughter who is a Chiropractor in Westchester and Tim, who has a large landscaping business in Hastings.
Mo Winograd
