Robert C. Hinklin, Jr. passed away on September 1, 2024 following a brief illness. Bob died content in the belief that god loved him. If asked for evidence to support this belief, he would offer as proof his loving family, his large circle of friends, his home, and his wealth in life’s simple joys.

Bob was a beloved father to daughters Margaret (Stephen) and Katherine (Jason), an adored grandfather to grandsons Michael, Atticus, and Oliver, and a well-loved former husband to Rose (it’s complicated-but-not-really).

 With more time to prepare, this obituary might be filled with a more comprehensive recitation of Bob’s career, hobbies, and habits. In the end, though, we don’t talk about his time working at Chrysler–which he hated–but seeing him when he came home from the night shift, when he explained to his daughter the idea of a vanishing point one night; the concept of supply and demand another. And we don’t think about his time as a house painter, but we do remember him teaching us to paint, and rewire outlets, and generally to tinker and problem solve. We remember his love of his pets, his catchy sayings, and his occasionally florid profanity.

 Bob loved his family and his friends. He loved to tell a good story, or to hear one. He loved to laugh and to make people laugh, Bob delighted in his grandsons, who he would have me assure you are the handsomest and smartest young men in the midwest. He was generous and famously easygoing. Bob’s only known enemy was the heating duct in his basement, on which he hit his head every week for almost 40 years