Robert A. Priebe |
| Posted 2007-05-09 by Judy Wight Branson |
| The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, May 9, 2007 Robert A. Priebe, 81, of Prescott, Arizona died at his home in Yavapai Hills on Friday morning, May 4. He was born in Detroit on September 5, 1925, Robert and his wife Mary (deceased in 2002) retired to Prescott in June 1986 from Dearborn, Michigan. A graduate of Fordson High School in Dearborn, and a U.S. Navy veteran, he went on to earn a degree in Industrial Engineering from Lawrence Institute of Technology in 1951. During his career in engineering, he worked for a variety of Detroit area companies, including Brooks & Perkins, Ford Motor Company, Chatham Supermarkets and J.L. Hudsons. Though he resided in Dearborn for the majority of his career, during his time at Ford Motor Company he traveled extensively to operations in South America and Europe and relocated his family to Brussels, Belgium for several years in the late '60s, His retirement years included diligent and honored service in the Yavapai Hills Lions Club, where he held a variety of posts, up to and including chapter president. In 1994, he was awarded a Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest commendation given to Lions Club members for humanitarian services. An avid baseball fan, he cheered on the Detroit Tigers from his boyhood years through the earlier years of his retirement and, as one would expect, gradually shifted his "allegiance" to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He attended several spring training and regular season games over the years and otherwise "rooted them on" on television from his favorite chair at home. In 2001, he spent countless hours creating a scrapbook of their World Series Championship season. He enjoyed a variety of television drama and sitcom programs, most notably "Seinfeld." Many real life situations would often prompt him to remark to those around him, "This reminds me of a Seinfeld episode." He retained his interest in engineering and, along with his brother Ed, had joined the Engineer's Club of the West Valley in Sun City, Arizona. His lifelong love of things "mathematical" saw him spending untold hours creating monthly spreadsheets of his investment portfolio and he even found great joy in balancing his checkbook and preparing his income tax returns. In late 2006, be made two special trips to Howell, Mich. to see his first great grandson Aeron, born Jan. 2006, and to Vancouver, Canada to see his first great granddaughter Ariel, born August 2006. Robert is survived by son and daughter-in-law Robert Jr. and Liz Priebe; daughter Carol Ann Roseman; sister and brother-in-law Francisca and Shucree Hassan; brother and sister-in-law Frank and Sharon Pignanelli; brother and sister-in-law Edward and Dorothy Priebe; sister Rose Marie Bala; grandchildren, Jonathan, Daniel and Sara; eldest grandson and wife Kenneth and Janet, great-grandson Aeron, great-granddaughter Ariel and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. There is no visitation scheduled. A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, May 11 at St. Germaine Catholic Church in Prescott Valley. Interment will follow at Redwood Memorial Gardens in Dewe, Ariz. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Robert's memory to the American Heart Association, 2929 South 48th St., Tempe, Ariz., 85282. Arrangements entrusted to Hampton Funeral Home, Prescott, Arizona. Information provided by survivors. |
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