Robert "Bob" Heinrichs' Obituary
On July 30, 2023, L. Robert “Bob” Heinrichs, 78, passed away from complications due to cancer. In and out of St. Joseph’s Hospital, he finally succumbed to his illness and took steps away from our presence here on earth and towards eternal life and Jesus.
Bob was born November 16, 1944 in Wolf Point, Montana to Tina and Jacob Heinrichs. He spent his youth with his brother Vern and sisters Lois and Iris working on the family farm, raising wheat crops. He married his wife, Sharron on September 19, 1964. After marriage, they decided that farm life was not for them and moved to Washington State to start their life together and raise a family.
Bob worked at many jobs to keep the family going. He was a barber, drove a bus and an ambulance and sold encyclopedias, among other things. He finally found a niche working with Vern as a truck driver for many years. The rest of Bob’s and his family’s life centered around the trucking industry. Not only was he a hired driver, but owned two of his own trucks and tried long haul driving. His path would also lead him to selling truck insurance for a while and to working for a mining service that filled old mines. Of course, that involved driving the truck to haul the machinery to each site. He always seemed to gravitate back to dump trucking and working with his brother again. His final job was working at Interstate Distributor Company as a Road Call Specialist for their drivers. Bob was again able to apply his many years of experience as a truck driver to mentor Interstate’s drivers to solve problems on the road with their rigs or find solutions if involved in accidents.
Early hobbies and accomplishments include getting his pilot’s license, snowmobiling, waterskiing and camping with his family. Bob always found time, too, to tinker with cars and hot rods of others. His mechanical aptitude helped many friends and family keep their cars and pickups on the road. Bob always wanted to find a way to start his own project: a t-bucket hot rod. Being a husband, dad and maintaining a house kept that on the back burner.
Retiring from Interstate, Bob settled down with Sharron to relax in their RV at Lake Mayfield, near Mossyrock. They were able to enjoy weekends by the lake and do some jet-skiing. Travel was also in their plans, as they stopped in Montana, Texas, California and spots in Washington State that they always wanted to visit. And there was a remote-controlled helicopter that he tinkered with – He got it off the ground, but never got it to fly much. It didn’t deter him, though, trying to get it in the air. Later years saw Bob enjoy watching stock car and drag races with their dog, Missy, keeping track of the car world that he was fond of. He also found time to hang out every Thursday with his car and trucking buddies to talk over the latest hot rod trends and projects.
In death, Bob was proceeded in death by Sharron; leaves behind children Scott and Linda Heinrichs, Lisa and Rocky Chipman, and Lauri and Ernie Nerseth and the many grandchildren and great-grandchildren whom he enjoyed spending time with.
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