Obituary of Robert Hughes

Bob Hughes, a resident of Felton, was born October 22, 1941 in Santa Barbara, California where he was raised by his grandparents, Fred and Bae Pugh, who can be credited with providing Bob with the values of humility, diligence, respect for others, and love of family that characterized his life. He graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1959, then attended Santa Barbara City College for one year. Bob then completed his military service with The US Army, spending two years in Germany during the beginning of the Cold War Era when the Berlin Wall went up. After his discharge from the Army, Bob moved to Orange County to be near his widowed grandmother. During this period, Bob was attempting to define his young life; to determine how he wanted to make a living. He tried pole climbing with the telephone company. He tried carpentry and cabinet making, finally determining that he’d tackle an area where he had some natural talent. He took a quick training course in draftsmanship and found it to his liking and he landed a job. He was, during this time, through a mutual Santa Barbara friend, reintroduced to an old Roosevelt Elementary 6th grade schoolmate who had moved to Anaheim with her family. A romance followed and he and Becky were married in 1966. Next came two children, Chrissie and Jimmy. Bob discovered he loved being a Dad. He also discovered he wanted to expand his knowledge, to go back to school to become a teacher. For the next few years, with toddlers trailing behind him, and working part-time, he completed his education, earning his BA in Industrial Arts at Long Beach State and adding an additional year with a teaching credential. He then taught High School Drafting and Woodshop for another couple of years while moonlighting in the garage in the evenings doing Printed circuit design work because teaching was not providing an acceptable living for a young family. As luck and hard work would have it, Bob’s former Printed Circuit Design Boss/Mentor had moved to San Jose, this being the mid-70s, before it was known as Silicon Valley. He called Bob and asked if he would be interested in coming to work for him as his Design Manager. Bob packed up the family and a new and exciting venture ensued. First stop, Shugart Associates, and a year later, an invitation to become part of a new start-up in Scott’s Valley, Seagate Technology. In the meantime, Bob and family had found a home in the redwoods, loving their new beautiful and welcoming community of Felton. Bob worked in the Computer Peripheral Industry for close to 30 years, loving certain aspects of it; the drive for quality, for excellence in design, for completion of product. But his other love was Woodworking. Over the years he had built most of the furniture in the family home and then when he retired, he found designing and crafting exquisite boxes of exotic and local woods a perfect way to express his love of design and quality. Nothing more satisfying than spending the day, with K Pig blasting in his home garage studio, saws buzzing and new boxes being born. After at first giving them away to family and friends, he figured that he was going to continue making them, so he started to sell them, to enter shows, and to find galleries to represent him. He so enjoyed Mountain Arts, Doon Arts, and Open Studios and all the wonderful people he met and worked with through these Avenues for Community Art. Periodically Bob liked taking a break, with Becky navigating, always enjoying taking the 17 foot travel trailer out on treks to other places, mainly through parks and places of natural beauty and differing cultures where they might find a pristine river for a little fly fishing. Nothing better. Bob’s other Primary Love was his Family. He was always first, a partner to Becky, a Dad to his kids, a Grandpa to his grandkids. He loved to introduce them to things he loved; camping, woodworking, teaching each of his kids and grandkids how to do things well and right… He relished his family and we loved him. Bob loved life. After an almost year long struggle with Cancer, he passed on. He is survived by his Wife of 53 years, Becky; his kids, Chris (Erik) Slaughter and Jim (Cindy) Hughes; his grandkids, Ben and Shelby Slaughter, Sam and Luke Hughes; and his sister, Margie Bastanchury. The Family would like to express its appreciation to Dr. Michael Wu and his wonderful caring and compassionate team at Palo Alto Medical Oncology, as well as Santa Cruz Hospice for their excellent guidance and support.