Lion Bob Carlson was awarded the Melvin Jones Fellowship at a meeting. In attendance at the meeting was Karen and Bill, Bob’s daughter and son-in-law.
Bob Carlson was the second eldest member of our club. Bob was born in Superior, Wisconsin on May 25, 1926 and lived there until 1944 when he joined the Navy as a signalman. Bob served on a troop transport in the Pacific and one of his scariest moments was getting caught in a typhoon in the China Sea where the Navy lost several ships. Another great memory was when Bob helped get occupation troops into Japan at the end of the war.
Bob was discharged from the Navy in 1946, and in 1948 moved to California, where he attended Whittier College and earned an elementary teaching credential and a BA in Education with a major in history. He began his teaching career in 1953 in Rivera where he worked until 1960 when he applied for four teaching positions in Northern California. Bob was accepted for all four of them, but he and his wife Elsie fell in love with Amador County in the Spring and Bob chose to teach 4th grade in Plymouth. After a few years, Bob began graduate studies at the College of the Pacific (now UOP) and earned his Master’s in Administration, so when Stan Kelly transferred from Plymouth to Sutter Creek in 1967, Bob took over as Principal, a position he held until he took a break in 1973.
In 1975, Bob became principal of Ione Elementary where he worked for ten years. He retired in 1985 after being a teacher and principal for thirty-two years. Being a teacher through and through, Bob soon found himself teaching at Preston and retired from the Youth Authority in 1991.
Bob and Elsie did a lot of traveling after he retired. One of his favorite places to visit was Japan because of the history of his transporting troops there after the war. He also enjoyed a trip to Hong Kong with a side trip into the interior where he had the opportunity to walk on the Great Wall of China. He also really liked the trip he took to Yugoslavia.
Bob kept himself pretty busy. He met with a coffee group every morning in Ione, and also spent as much time as he could with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He was a very active member of the Sutter Creek Lions and had been a member for almost 50 years – all in the Sutter Creek Club. One of his fondest Lions memories was a convention he and Elsie attended in New Orleans – one he referred to as a “blast”! He loved the “new” club and how so many members are active in meetings and the projects we do. He hoped we’ll be like the “old” club, where everyone was involved and every one worked.
We thank you Bob for the fine example of Lionism you model for all of us newbies. Robert passed away in 2016 and will be greatly missed.
Sutter Creek Lions Club