NLR’s Main Street fixture dies at 98

Bob Stroud dodged torpedoes, spotted mines, danced with Bette Davis and shot a bee in flight.

The 98-year-old World War II veteran died Friday.

Robert Roy “Bob” Stroud had been a fixture on Main Street in North Little Rock. He and his wife, Mildred, ran S & S Auto Parts for 41 years.

Stroud died of a heart attack and stroke, said his grandson, Kelvin Stroud of Washington, D.C.

Stroud had collapsed Wednesday night shortly after returning from the hospital. His son, “Young Bob” Stroud, did CPR with one hand while calling 911 with the other. Emergency personnel arrived and took the elder Bob Stroud back to the hospital.

“He was able to stick around long enough for kids like me to make it here,” said Kelvin Stroud. “We were able to come home during this pandemic.”

Gathered in his hospital room, they were four prayers into the rosary when he passed away.

Bob Stroud was born in a log cabin in west Little Rock, he said in a 2017 interview for the Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

In 1927, the family moved to North Little Rock.

Stroud grew up in a large family. Everyone got along, but times were tough, he told the interviewer.

“We ate a lot of stuff like peas, potatoes, tomatoes, things like that,” he said. “If it wasn’t for a home garden, we wouldn’t make it.”

Stroud had a strong work ethic, even as a boy.

“I got a bicycle when I was 11 or 12 years old,” he said. “I got it by shooting marbles. I hate to tell you this, but I was a marble shark.”

Stroud used his bicycle to deliver prescriptions for Economy Drug Store on Main Street in North Little Rock.

In junior high school, he got a job working at Western Auto. Initially, he made $10 a week installing heaters in cars. Later, he was promoted to working the sales floor.

He met Mildred Francis Kordsmeier of Morrilton. They married in 1941 and soon had two daughters.

During World War II, Stroud joined the Navy, serving in a Naval Construction Battalion.

When he was aboard the USS Florence Nightingale, a Japanese submarine fired a torpedo at the ship as it approached the Philippines.

Stroud saw the torpedo miss the ship. He waited, fearful that another torpedo would follow, but it didn’t.

The ship arrived at Okinawa, which was the scene of fierce fighting near the end of World War II.

Members of Stroud’s construction battalion proceeded to cross the island. They went in after the front-line fighting, but they still encountered hostile Japanese soldiers on the way.

“We had to run interference,” Stroud said in the 2017 interview. “It wasn’t a whole lot, just a little bit, but it was bad.”

When asked what he meant by it being bad, Stroud said: “You’ve got a rifle. You’ve got ammunition. And you’ve got to use it. If you don’t, you’re not going to be here long.”

Stroud remained on Okinawa for a while after the battle was won. A typhoon hit the island while he was there.

“A hundred eighty mph winds will carry fighter planes plum out in the ocean,” said Stroud. “We lost a lot of people who got washed out to sea. They washed back in dead.”

After the war, on the return trip to Seattle, Stroud spotted a mine. He told the commander, and the ship turned to avoid it.

Stroud returned to North Little Rock to his family and his new son.

He also returned to Main Street and began work as a salesman for S & S Auto Parts. Ten years later, he and Mildred became owner/operators of the company. They ran the business for 41 years and moved the store three times.

During that time, the Stroud family grew by another three children and moved to Rose City and then Park Hill.

When someone asked if S & S stood for Stroud and Sons, he said: “No, Stroud and Stroud. My wife and daughters work here, too.”

Having retired at the age of 76, Stroud spent a total of 60 years on North Little Rock’s Main Street. He liked to say, “I came to Main Street on a bicycle and left in a Cadillac.”

Mildred Stroud died in 2007.

Young Bob Stroud said his father didn’t talk much about the war until he reached the age of 90.

“He didn’t like to watch war movies. It bothered him,” Young Bob Stroud said.

The older Stroud had talents that seemed superhuman, said family members. They once saw him use a pellet gun to shoot a bothersome bee in flight.

Stroud was frequently cracking jokes. Having prepaid for his funeral, he would stop by Smith Family Funeral Home just to say, “You don’t have me yet.”

Young Bob Stroud said his father continued to drive until about eight months ago.

The older Stroud attributed his long-term good health to dancing.

Once, while on leave from the Navy, he danced with Bette Davis at a USO event in New York City.

Stroud would go to the Elks and VFW clubs, especially when it was going to be big band music.

“Last New Year’s Eve, he was at the Moose club, and he stayed out later than me,” said Young Bob Stroud.

“I never heard him get mad,” he said. “I never heard him curse. Not once. Everything was calm to him. He lived a calm life.”