Robert Edward Hawkins Obituary (1958 - 2023)

Robert (Bob) E. Hawkins passed away on 10/19/23 in Bacliff, Texas after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Bob was born on August 19, 1958 to Mary Anne and James Hawkins in Schenectady, NY. After graduating from Niskayuna High School in 1976, Bob earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, followed by an MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. Bob's first job as a field engineer for Schlumberger Oilfield Services started his long career in the Texas oil industry. Eventually branching out of the oil industry, Bob returned to school for an MS in Studies of the Future at the University of Houston, Clear Lake. As a future studies scientist, Bob helped small businesses plan for and cope with the changing world. He was a compulsive tinkerer and had a practitioner's grasp of technology. He was constantly exploring the changing world with interests ranging from robotics to theories of knowledge. He could also be found exploring remote beaches or mountain wildernesses, and traveled extensively in the US. and abroad. Bob was an avid photographer, focusing on unique and eclectic subjects and styles. In addition, he was a journal and short story author and served in various positions in the Bay Area Writers League. He was one of the writers published in their anthology Anticipation in 2021. Bob's creative side also included being an accomplished graphics designer. In recent years he was well known for the concert posters he created for the local and visiting blues musicians at Katie's Bar and music venue near his home in Bacliff. Bob could strike up a conversation with anyone and was genuinely interested in what they had to say. This is how he became a cherished friend to the musicians, staff, and blues fans who made up his extended blues family. He will be greatly missed in that community. Although Bob's home was Texas for more than thirty-five years, he loved spending time in Maine with his family every summer and at Christmastime. Conversations with Bob were never dull. His many interests and his active interest in who he was talking with, made you feel like you had spent quality time with someone who appreciated you. Not many people can make you feel like that, but Bob did. His family and friends will miss him terribly as he was loved by all who knew him. Bob was predeceased by his father, James W. Hawkins, and sisters Deborah Kyne and Mary Louise Hawkins. He is survived by his mother, Mary Anne, sister Ellen, sister Jane and husband Michael Taylor, brother Tom and wife Anne Marie, sister Nancy and husband William Knott, brother Christopher and wife Concha, brother-in-law John Kyne, his ten nieces and nephews, and his three grand niece and nephews. A funeral mass will be celebrated at a later date.