Robert W. Beskar

Robert W. (Bob) Beskar, a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, Air Force Veteran, and poet extraordinaire, died peacefully on February 16, 2021, at the age of 73. God called Bob to his heavenly home after a long and courageous battle with the unforgiving and horrendous disease, dementia. Dementia destroyed so much but it could not destroy the love he had for his wife of thirty-six years, Karen, and children, Terry (Christie), Jim (Brie) and Jennifer (Jake), who he affectionately called Squirty-O. He is also survived by his amazing grandkids, Alex and Liana Vanderbeek, Kaiden, Bella, Kendall (Squirty-O 2) and Jacob Walker; two sisters, Kay Mooney and Sheryl Paton; sister-in-law, Lyn Beskar; brother-in-law, Keith Phillips; and by many nieces and nephews as well as many other relatives and many friends. He was preceded in death by his parents Jerome (Red) and Florence Beskar (nee Moore); sisters, Joanne Christianson and Colleen (Kitty) Phillips; and by his brother, Tom Beskar. Bob was born July 22, 1947, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He grew up in Inver Grove Heights and graduated from Hill High School with the class of 1965. Following his graduation, he received an Associate of Arts degree from the U of M and also went to Mankato State for a short time. While there, Uncle Sam came a calling, and in 1968, Bob enlisted in the United States Air Force and served from 1968-1972. While in Active Duty, he was stationed at Travis AF Base in California, but being a crew chief on a KC 135 tanker, it took him all over the world. He had more than one TDY in Utapao, Thailand, where he refueled planes in the air so they could complete their missions over Vietnam. Following his Honorable Discharge, he had a few different jobs prior to finally working at North Star Steel. When he was laid off, he then worked for Flint Hill Resources. After 15 years of employment, he left and within a few years he finished out his working career as a night custodian for District 833, mostly at Royal Oaks Elementary in Woodbury. He so enjoyed his time there with the young students and the teachers. After 9/11, Bob rekindled a past passion of his which was writing poetry. He wrote poems for anyone who requested poems and he wrote poems for famous and not so famous people. Even though he may not have known the person he always said, send me some info and I will do it. He had such a gift and could truly capture the essence of the person by his poems. He wrote many military poems and poems for all other occasions, and his work has been published all over the world. Veterans Day and Memorial Day were especially important to Bob, and he often had his poetry read at events on those days. Bob was so proud to have his poetry read, and he has over 600 poems. Family was very important to Bob and he got all of us into camping and fishing. He also loved hunting, snowmobiling, going to movies, going out to eat, Carbone's pepperoni pizza, ice cream with chocolate topping. He also enjoyed an "occasional" Windsor and diet rite. His love for the BWCA was evident as we would go up there every summer, and Bob only missed one summer in over fifty years. He taught all of us to fish for small mouth bass and we had a great time catching and releasing. His other past-times were "working" outdoors on our land which he loved. Our yard always looked so great in the spring and summer with the flowers he planted and all the birds; he loved his birds and they were definitely well fed. He could fix and build almost anything, so our home was always in good shape. He was a "regular" at Menards and Burger King and we lovingly called him "Mr. Menards." We lovingly called him, "The Man Behind the Name," because he named East Ridge High School, which was a very proud moment for him. After Bob was diagnosed with dementia in the spring of 2017, he enjoyed as much of life with his wife, children and grandchildren as he could until it robbed him of his memory. Bob will live on forever in our lives, and as 3 year old Kendall would say, Love-ou so much grandpa! A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 23, 2021, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, with Bob’s brother-in-law, Father George Schmit officiating. A live-stream of the service can be accessed on Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel's Facebook page for those unable to attend the service. Interment with Military Honors will be held at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. Family and friends are cordially invited to a visitation from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening, April 22, 2021 and for one hour prior to the Mass, all at the church. Memorials preferred to any Veteran's organizations, the Alzheimer's Association or St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Arrangements are being completed by Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel of Hastings.