Robert Holmes Cope

10/24/1926 - 03/27/2024

Robert “Bob” Cope was born in October of 1926 to Florence & Hardy Cope. The family had been living near Miami, Florida until a hurricane destroyed their home and devastated the area in September of 1926. After the hurricane, Bob’s mother came down with malaria and left the area, first home to Patterson, New Jersey, then to San Diego, where Bob was born. Bob’s family, including his sister Charlotte (Ruth) (b. 1928) and step-brother Richard (b. 1917), moved around California during the 1930’s as his father looked for work as an electrician during the Great Depression. The family settled in Black Point, Marin County, California, on the northern shore of the San Francisco Bay where Bob attended San Rafael High School and graduated in 1945.

After high school, Bob was drafted into the Army Air Corps. He attended gunnery school in Las Vegas, Nevada to be a tail gunner. With the ending of WWII in September 1945, he transferred to medic school in Denver, Colorado. When Bob was honorably discharged in 1950, he returned to California. While working a wide variety of jobs, with the GI Bill Bob was able to attend UC Berkeley and graduate with a degree in Forestry in 1954. Bob had a 30-year career in the Forest Service, where he worked in various fire lookouts and ranger stations around California before landing an office job in San Francisco in the early 1970’s. It was there he met the love of his life, Helen Sebastian. Bob and Helen were married in 1974 and moved into a new 3-story townhouse in Diamond Heights, where they treasured their views of the City atop the hills of San Francisco. After his retirement, Bob worked part-time in a tobacco shop and he and Helen traveled the world. Bob and Helen were utterly devoted to each other for 44 years, until her death in 2018.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, brother and sister. While Bob and Helen had no children, they have several surviving nieces and nephews.

Bob will be interred at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, CA next to Helen. A private service is planned.