Victoria Ranck
Bob was a brother to me. I was "adopted" by his family when I left home at 18 years old and lived with them for a life changing 6 months. They showed me what a Christian family was and modeled it to perfection. That changed my life forever. I, and my family, have paid that forward ever since. Theirs was the house where all the kids congregated. We became that in their honor. There was not a spare room in that house, so Bob and his little brother, David vacated their room for me and slept on a pull out sofa all that time. They never begrudged it and instead made me feel like a beloved sister. The love between them was palpable. Mine was the first wedding at which Bob played the organ. He said he played terribly. I will treasure the memory forever. We buried each of his parents together. I sat at the table for family. I saw Margie (his mom) a month or so before she died. She introduced me to a nurse as her daughter. David (Bob's brother) asked me to marry him when he was 12 and I was 18, if I would just wait for him while he grew up! I remember a card Bob wrote to me "from your little brother with the lightning fast fingers", and he surely was that! He always said that he hated the cold and was going to move to Florida after college, and so he did, to my surprise. I remember when, newly married, he brought Lisa over to meet us. He was wearing a trench coat and looked so much a man. I knew she was perfect for him. Then Douglas and Julie, heirs to the legacy and the keepers of it to the next generation! There's so much more, but for the record, this was/is a loving family of incredible people who changed and enriched many people's lives by that love's outpouring.