Robert Oliver, are you still out there?

By Robert Oliver

By Robert Oliver

Robert Oliver is a name I know well. Actually, it’s the name “Cousin Bob” I know best. During the years 1914 and 1915, that name showed up frequently in the correspondence between my grandmother and my Aunt Medora and in Medora’s diary, too. Medora was my mother’s sister – the aunt who died long before I was born and about whom I wrote in Dear Medora.

Her diary entry for April 11, 1914, for instance said: Cousin Bob was in. He is lots of fun. Later that year, on July 12th Medora wrote: After dinner Bob was in. He got to joking and fell back in his chair. That sure did make him laugh. Spent so much of the evening talking to Cousin Bob that we had to leave the dishes. Later that month, on the 26th, Medora wrote:  About nine Cousin Bob came up and we developed two rolls of films. Had loads of fun laughing at our mistakes, one of which was attempting to develop the protective brown paper.

Even my mother, who turned three in November that year, spoke fondly of Cousin Bob – whether because she actually remembered him (perhaps he visited again in later years) or because he was so beloved of the family, I don’t know. He was somewhat older than Papa (my grandfather) and was his first cousin, the son of Jane Espy Oliver who was my great-grandfather’s older sister.

Cousin Bob on the Right

Cousin Bob on the Right

Cousin Bob came from Portersville, Pennsylvania. I don’t know how much visiting there was between Oysterville and Portersville, but I do know when my grandfather was an alternate Washington State delegate to the 1912 Republican Convention in Chicago, he took advantage of being “in the East” and went to visit the Portersville relatives. He stayed with Charlie Oliver, who may have been Cousin Bob’s father.

My mother thought that perhaps Cousin Bob was in Oysterville for that extended period of time because his own wife had died. I’m not sure about that. Perhaps if I could locate his grandson, Robert Oliver the writer of Our Barn In Summer; Remembering Portersville I could find some of the answers. However, finding him doesn’t seem likely.

The book was published in 2008 and the last section of the book is called “At 85.” On the back cover there is a little biographical material about Bob: Robert Oliver spent all his early years in the small farming and coal mining community celebrated in this book of verse. His adult life has taken a varied path: WWII (destroyer duty in the North Atlantic, aircraft carrier duty in the Pacific), the business world, the music world (bass soloist in two Stravinsky world premieres, oratorio and opera performances in Europe and North America), and clinical psychology. He is retired and lives in Los Angeles.

Another Cousin Bob! How I’d love to meet him! His book is an absolute delight and I know he would be, too.

2 Responses to “Robert Oliver, are you still out there?”

  1. Stephanie Frieze says:

    Actually, finding anyone in this day and age ought not to be too hard. Try the publisher.

  2. Kathleen Blixt says:

    Bob passed in May of 2014.
    http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=171214415

    He was a spectacular singer, and for many years owned a Consulting firm. In 1975(?) he changed his life almost entirely and moved to LA to become a Clinical Psychologist.

    I hope this helps.

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