Bobby Alonzo Inklebarger, age 84, passed away February 27, 2018 at Hospice of Spokane’s Hospice House North. Bob went to be with his maker and reunite with family who had preceded him, including his grandparents Alonzo and Lillie Bertha, father Earl, mother Lorene Inklebarger Worden, brother Don, and son-in-law Robert Durnil. Bob was born in November 29, 1933 in an area of Western Arkansas called Potts, near the town of Branch. His family farmed as share croppers on the Berry farm, where the owners maintained cattle. As the first born of three children, Bob helped his parents with all their farming duties including planting and harvesting, plowing the fields and milking the cows. The family used horse drawn turning plows and planters to farm and lived primarily on what they could grow and raise. The farm had no running water or electricity. In 1947 at age 14 Bob’s family left Arkansas and moved to the San Juaquin Valley of California. During this time Bob worked side by side with his Dad, where he learned to drive and fix automobiles, tractors and trucks. Bob turned out to be a natural and excellent mechanic and he utilized these skills throughout his adult life. Bob married Patricia Carroll on April 16, 1951 in Porterville, CA and they had three children, Stephen, Mark and Michele. Bob had two satisfying careers. First he enlisted in the Air Force in 1952 during the Korean War. Bob was an airplane mechanic and crew chief for B-47’s and B-52’s at Castle AFB, Merced CA. Then he became a flight engineer during the Vietnam War on C-124’s at Hickam AFB Oahu, HI and later C-141’s at McChord AFB, Tacoma, WA. The Air Force fulfilled his childhood desire to fly in airplanes. Bob completed 131 combat flight missions before retiring after 22 plus years in 1975. Bob’s second career began in 1975 at Centrilift, an oil pump equipment company. He was hired as a field service technician, and later promoted to field service manager at Huntington Beach, CA. In 1981 the company moved Bob to Claremore, OK where he created and taught a field service class. In 1984 the company reassigned Bob to the engineering department with his job title “test engineer.” Bob retired in 1992 and the company continued to hire him back for several months each year for the next 8 years. In 1993 Bob and Pat sold their home in Claremore, OK and purchased a 40’ RV that they called home for the next 10 years. Bob had an RV to navigate and maintenance, and Pat was able to travel to Canada and make many trips to see relatives in Nevada, California and Washington. In 2003 they moved to Spokane, WA to be near family. Bob’s interests included golfing, playing acoustic guitar and following all things NASA. He also pursued his lifelong study of weather as the family’s weathercaster. Bob was always willing to help family, friend and neighbors. One of his greatest pleasures was to share his expertise and knowledge with others. Bob is survived by Pat, his wife of 66 years, siblings Fran Browning and Teena Inklebarger, his three children Stephen (Ina), Mark and Michele Durnil, daughter-in-law Valerie, granddaughters Katheryn, Michele, Sharon and Christina; great grandchildren Ethan, Isabella, Ocean, Cohen and Eden; along with his sister-in-law Sandy and aunt Luella Koontz. Bob will be interred at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, WA. service with military honors will be held on Monday, March 5th at the Veteran's Cemetery in Medical Lake at 2:15.

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