If you did not know Bob Vagedes you missed knowing someone special. If you were lucky enough to call him your friend, please share a story on this memorial website.

Bob was one-of-a-kind. Bob (pronounced the same when spelled backwards as he liked to say) was the loving father of Jan (Powers) and Mike, grandfather of T.J., Jamie, Dan, Katie, & Erin and great grandfather to Jackson, who will carry on the family name, and new baby Porter. He was a jokester, gardener, hunting enthusiast, and dog lover. Being a veteran & travelling the middle east during WW II, he deeply valued being an American. He never missed voting in any election. After retirement he and his late wife Peg (Margaret O. Loesche) served as election judges for years. Funny, witty, always ready to tell a corny joke many times over, Bob was best known for being a truly good person – good friend, neighbor, uncle, brother and brother-in-law in addition to husband, father and grandfather. He was the type who would drive back to a store that accidentally gave him a dollar too much back in change.

Born in 1924, a native St. Louisan, he grew up in Overland. In his early teens his family moved out to “the country” near Creve Coeur lake. On weekends he would sell pony rides with his pony, Babe, at the lake. Bob joined the CCC Corps at 16 with his dead brother’s birth certificate. He was drafted at 18 into the Army Air Force, North African Air Transport Command during World War II. His unit received the Award of Meritorious Service for exceptional performance of difficult tasks in Teheran and Abadan. In addition to their normal job of supplying the Persian Gulf Command, with limited equipment the unit also supplied by air various bases of the Eastern Command, USSTAF, in Russia. Bob served for almost 4 years — 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Bob lived in his home in Crestwood for 57 years where he and Peg raised their son and daughter. Bob would readily admit the highlight of their lives was the many years entertaining their 5 grandchildren. Bob was very proud to have had 2 great grandsons.

Bob and Peg had a dog at one time or another most of their married life. Right before Peg got sick they adopted a 3 legged mutt from the Humane Society that became his faithful friend and loyal companion after Peg passed away. In recent years Bob went from using 1 to 2 canes to avoid falling as he and Pepper took their daily walks. The neighbors fondly called him a 4 legged man walking a 3 legged dog. About 6 weeks after Pepper died, although he swore he would never go through the heartache of losing a pet again, Bob went to the Humane Society and adopted “Herbie”.

Bob loved the outdoors, loved to hunt and was an avid conservationist. He enjoyed many years of duck hunting on the Mississippi and in several of the area’s game preserves. Once the kids were grown, Peg went with him and finally got to see what he had talked about for years — the breathtaking beauty of the sunrise over the water and the sounds of the earth waking up. Bob was very lucky to be able to hunt until he was 77. He and his family also spent many weekends at “the farm”–97 acres of beautiful Missouri rolling hillside just west of St. Louis. He recycled everything, not just to protect the earth but also because he came from a time when no one had anything much less things to throw away.

Bob owned Auto-Rite Auto Body, a small auto body repair business near Maplewood for almost 30 years. When he sold it, he sold the entire package – name, phone number, building, tools and his good reputation. Bob worked on several customers’ cars who years later brought in their kid’s cars.

Being self employed Bob rarely took a vacation. However, when he and Peg celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1998, they did fly to Hawaii for a week. Bob delighted in asking the store and restaurant employees if they accepted “American money”.

Prior to the recent surgery that he did not survive, Bob spent a week in SSM St. Clare Hospital having tests run. He was in rare form, teasing and telling his jokes to every new nurse who came through the door. Outside of his window he could see the sun rise & the hospital’s 3 flags and loved watching them blow in the wind these past beautiful September days. If you knew him you know he still had a full head of hair, and brown, not gray, thanks to Clairol. No one could believe he was 90. One little student nurse looked at his chart , stepped into his room, stepped back out and looked at the room number. Then she asked his nurse if the age on the chart was a misprint.

Bob was of the generation that saw so many changes in the world. He told the young nurses stories of growing up with no inside plumbing, moving to the country house with a stove inside, not in a shed attached to the outside of their home, listening to radio in the kitchen by the wood stove used for heating their house, trapping rabbit & squirrel which was sometimes their only meat, working for 10 cents an hour, in adult life taking a street car and 2 busses to and from work every day, living without air conditioning over half of his life, the telephone & being fortunate to be able to afford a “4 party line,” the awesomeness of space travel & landing on the moon.

Bob will be very much missed by many, many, many people, especially his family and neighbors. He was truly a great person and was well respected and looked up to by all who knew him. He was a simple man who enjoyed living. So many times he told the nurses, “I’ve had a great life,” and “You have to laugh and enjoy life because it is too short.” Everyone loved Bob Vagedes.