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At random: "It's hard sometimes, but as long as we remember them around the campfire, they will live forever." -- Walt Specht

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Coyote

Posted 2023-11-22 4:03 PM (#104352)

Master and Commander

Posts: 1005

Location: NE Florida

Subject: Wednesday Obits

BATEMAN .. .. Gilbert Gentry Bateman, 84, of LaPlata, MD and formerly of St. Petersburg, FL, passed away on November 17, 2023 at Calvert Health Medical Center. Born July 23, 1939 in Washington, DC, he was the son of the late Roy Gilbert Bateman and Jeannette Rita Bateman.
Gilbert graduated from Boca Ciego High School in 1957. He served in the U.S. Navy as part of the U.S. Navy Submarine Service from 1964 until 1968. Gilbert was the Government Employees Director for I.B.E.W., Washington, DC for thirty-seven years, retiring on April 1, 2005.
Gilbert was a Delegate to the Metal Trades Council of Charleston. He also sat on the U.S. Department of Defense Wage Board and dealt often with the Interior and Energy Department Officials. He was particularly proud of successfully lobbying for legislation affecting collective bargaining rights at the Interior and Energy Departments. Gilbert loved music and enjoyed playing guitars (he has thirty). He enjoyed reading, good food, and spending time with family.
Gilbert is survived by his daughter, Shelly J. Kehrer of Lusby, MD; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and siblings, Sharon Penn of Brooksville, FL, R. James Bateman of New Milford, CT and Joann Cyganovich of E. McKeesport, PA. He was preceded in death on July 3, 2000 by his wife, Rita Maxine (Hutto) Bateman whom he married in South Carolina in 1961; his daughters, Donna L. Shoemaker and Denise L. Bateman; and sister, Arva Whithead.

MIELKE .. .. Mark Mielke, age 58, passed away peacefully at his home in Aurora on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. Born on July 27, 1965, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mark is survived by his mother, Roberta "Bobbi" Mielke, his siblings Terri Aguirre (Tony), Pam Woods (Joe), Debi Kraus (Dave), Todd Mielke (Mitzi), his nieces and nephews, Andy, Jon (Jessica), Adam, Christine, Danielle, Kelly, Jenna, Matthew, Ryan, Randi, and Anna. He is preceded in death by his father Milo "Mick" Mielke and brother-in-law Alan Bates.
In his childhood, Mark moved several times with his family from Minnesota throughout California, then to Colorado where he attended Cherry Creek High School. After graduating high school in 1983, Mark moved to Illinois where he joined the Navy, enrolling in the prestigious Nuclear Sub program. Mark served as a Nuclear Submarine Power Plant Electrician's Mate attached to the USS Pollack and later the USS H. M. Jackson. After six years of service, he received his honorable discharge from the Navy and returned to Colorado. He attended Metropolitan State University in Denver, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1995. He enjoyed accounting and worked for many years at CH2M Hill in the expense reporting department. In recent years, Mark worked part-time as a food delivery driver and warehouse worker.
Mark was a gentle soul with a wry sense of humor. He enjoyed football, trivia, politics, and pizza nights with family.

WALSH .. .. Retired Navy Capt. Don Walsh, a Naval Academy graduate and explorer who in 1960 was part of a two-man crew that made the first voyage to the deepest part of the ocean — to the “snuff-colored ooze” at the bottom of the Pacific’s Mariana Trench — has died. He was 92. Walsh died Nov. 12 at his home in Myrtle Point, Oregon, his daughter, Elizabeth Walsh, said Monday.
In January 1960, Walsh, then a U.S. Navy lieutenant, and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard were sealed inside a 150-ton, steel-hulled bathyscaphe named the Trieste to attempt to dive nearly 7 miles below the surface. A bathyscaphe is a self-propelled submersible used in deep-sea dives.
The two men descended to 35,800 feet in the Challenger Deep, the deepest point of the Earth’s oceans, part of the Mariana Trench, about 200 miles off Guam in the Pacific.
After a descent of about five hours, the steel-hulled submersible touched down on what the log described as the “snuff-colored ooze” of silt stewed up by the ship reaching the bottom.
When they reached the seafloor, the two men shook hands. “I knew we were making history,” Walsh told The World newspaper of Coos Bay, Oregon, in 2010. “It was a special day.”
After spending 20 minutes on the floor and confirming there was life there when a fish swam by, they began their 3 1/2-hour ascent.
“We were astounded to find higher marine life-forms down there at all,” Piccard said before his death in 2008.
Piccard designed the ship with his father, and they sold it to the U.S. Navy in 1958. Walsh was temporarily serving in San Diego when Piccard requested volunteers to operate the vehicle. Walsh stepped forward.
“There was an opportunity to pioneer,” Walsh told The World. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing, but I knew I’d be at sea. It wasn’t until later they told us what they had in store.”
Walsh was born Nov. 2, 1931, in Berkeley, California. He joined the Navy at age 17, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in oceanography from Texas A&M.
He served in the Navy for 24 years, retiring with the rank of captain and serving on various submarines. He then became a professor at the University of Southern California before opening his own marine consulting business in 1976.
In 2010 he received the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award and served on many boards, including as a policy adviser to the U.S. State Department.
“Walsh was a Navy officer, a submariner, an adventurer, and an oceanographer. To his family, we extend our deepest condolences and gratitude for allowing him to explore, and share his extraordinary experiences and knowledge with us,” Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus said in a Navy news release.
Walsh traveled the world, including many trips to Antarctica, where the Walsh Spur pointed rock is named in his honor.
His daughter said one of the earliest lessons she and her brother Kelly learned from their parents is that the world is not a scary place — a lesson that was reinforced because their parents always came home after their various travels.
“Don’t be scared of it and go have adventures and learn things and meet people,” she recalled him teaching. “He’s certainly instilled an enthusiastic curiosity about the world in Kelly and I, and that’s a tremendous gift.”
In 2020, Kelly Walsh made his own journey to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in a vessel owned and piloted by Dallas explorer Victor Vescovo, “An extraordinary explorer, oceanographer, and human being. I’m so honored I could call him my friend,” Vescovo posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the day after Don Walsh’s death.
In addition to his children, Walsh is also survived by his wife of 61 years, Joan.

HERGERT .. .. Robert "Bob" Leslie Hergert laid down his wrench for the final time on the evening of November 14, 2023, at the age of 78. Bob was not one to complain, so his battle with cancer was short, and he passed peacefully at his home in Kelseyville, surrounded by love and reminders of the wonderful life he lived.
Robert was born on October 2, 1945 in Lakeport, California, to Elise McIntire Hergert and Raymond "Bob" Hergert. He was the oldest of five children and readily took on the role of protector over his siblings as the big brother. Although Robert got his start in Kelseyville, he grew up in various parts of the country due to his father's position as a Nuclear Submarine Chief Torpedoman in the US Navy, to include Hawaii, Virginia, and Key West, Florida.
Bob's heart was in Lake County though, and he returned to Kelseyville as soon as he was able. There he met his wife Carolyn Holdenried Gard, and they were married in Reno, Nevada on June 6, 1968. Carolyn had two children, Bruce and Janet, whom Bob considered his own children and raised them as his own. Bob and Carolyn welcomed one daughter together, Nicole "Nikki", on July 20, 1969. Bob and Carolyn celebrated over 46 years of marriage together before Carolyn passed away from cancer on January 24, 2015. Most people are lucky to even find one partner to love in life, but Bob was lucky enough to find two. Bob met his second wife Connie Patison Ludwig, in Fort Bragg and they were married in Kelseyville on April 9, 2016. Connie had one daughter, Lisa, whom Bob also considered his own.
Throughout his life, Bob had several professions, starting with odd jobs in his younger years moving onto grape and pear farming, however he settled quite happily on automotive repair and machine work. Bob had always had a unique understanding of engines and made that his life's work, opening his own automotive repair shop next to his home with his wife Carolyn. Always a man who found joy in working with his hands, Bob refused to retire and continued working at Bob's Auto up until the end.
Bob found other ways to work with his hands, and always had to have something to work on. He started as a child building soapbox cars with his little sister Kathleen, restoring a small sailboat as a youngster, leading up to restoring classic cars throughout the rest of his life. Bob's love for cars manifested in various ways, one of which was drag racing, which he shared his love of with his son. He also enjoyed working in his wood shop, if he wasn't working on a car he was building furniture out of wine barrels and loved giving his finished projects to his friends and family. Bob loved to travel, and in his later years he could be found driving cross-country in his 1937 Lincoln Zephyr with his wife Connie, their dog, and his aluminum teardrop trailer in tow.
Bob showed his love of Kelseyville and its community in a multitude of ways. He was one of the founding members of the Kelseyville Lions Club and loved to participate in all of their community events, to include the Kelseyville Pear Festival, crab feeds, luau's, and various fundraisers over the years. He was a hard worker and enjoyed putting his feet up at the end of the day while sharing a drink with a friend. Bob was a man of few words, but he left a great impression on all who knew him. This impact was evident everywhere he went, as you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in Kelseyville who had never met Bob Hergert.
Bob is survived by his wife, Connie Hergert; his children, Bruce Gard and his partner Pam Hanreich, Janet Harmon Bosse and her husband Brenndon Bosse, Nikki Jones-Callaway and her husband Stephen Klein, and Lisa Ludwig; and by his siblings, Kathleen Ira, Dennis Hergert and his wife Kathy, and Cheryl Moll. Bob is also held in the hearts of his grandchildren Robbie, Courtney, Whitney, JP, Brian, Jessica, Carrie, Garrett, Mary, and Spencer, as well as multiple great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Bob is predeceased by his parents, Raymond and Elise, his brother Donald Hergert, his wife Carolyn Hergert, and his brother-in-law Michael Ira.
A graveside service will be held Saturday, November 25, 2023, 10:30am, at the Kelseyville Cemetery, where he is to be laid to rest with his family who were ready to welcome him into Heaven. Reception to be held on Saturday, November 25, 2023, 12 Noon, at the Lady Luck Garage located at 4010 Main Street in Kelseyville.
Bob wasn't much for flowers, so we ask that you buy a drink for a friend in Bob's memory and raise it in honor of a wonderful man.

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