Bob, KE9BK made a significant impact on amateur radio operators in Barron County with the donation of much of his equipment including HF radios, VHF Radios, antennas, tower, ect. If you work KD9EJA during Field Day there is a strong possibility that you are hearing us on one of his radios. The Barron County Amateur Radio Association thanks Bob and his Family’s donation to the Association. Bob’s Obituary courtesy of Skinner Funeral Home is below.

Robert I. Talbot, 96, died at his home in Cumberland on December 24, 2017. He was born in Cumberland on August 2, 1921 to Esther (Miller) and Irvin F. Talbot. He was raised in Cumberland and graduated from Cumberland High School in 1939. He had a happy childhood, playing with his brother Jamie, his cousins and his friends. They enjoyed camping, fishing, exploring, swimming, and pretending they were cowboys or airplane pilots in the summer, and skiing, sledding and tobogganing in the winter. Bob loved every year of school. A proud moment in his early life was receiving the American Legion award for outstanding boy of his high school graduating class.

He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 24 and became its 5th Eagle Scout. He attended the University of WI in River Falls, but left during his third year to enlist in the U. S. Navy at the beginning of WWII. During the War he flew F6F Hellcats off an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He was shot down after a raid on Yokosuka Naval Harbor in July 1945, and had to ditch his plane in Tokyo Bay. He was picked up by one of our lifeguard submarines, and spent several weeks decoding messages on the sub until he was transferred to another sub, then Guam, then back to his squadron in San Diego. By that time, WWII was over, and his squadron was disbanding.

After WWII, he worked for U. S. Gypsum, managed a furniture store in San Francisco and worked for Wood Conversion, a branch of Weyerhauser Lumber Co. In 1957 he joined the Federal Aviation Administration’s Boston Center as an air traffic controller. When the FAA switched from manual control to computers in 1958, he was on the team that wrote the first computer program for the FAA on an IBM Univac File 1. He remained at the FAA until he retired in 1986 and moved back to Cumberland.

Bob was a member of the Blue Hills Masonic Lodge, the Indianhead Shrine Club, the American Legion, the Badger Weather Net, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Submarine Veterans of WWII. In 2006 he was honored to be named a Graduate of Achievement of Cumberland High School. He has said he attributes his success in life to three things: his parents, Cumberland High School and the Boy Scouts. Since his retirement, Bob has been a significant supporter of Boy Scout Troop 24, the Cumberland High School through his scholarship trust, and the Twin Cities Shrine Hospital for Children.

Bob leaves behind his wife Louise, his three daughters, Susan (Tom) Lamarre of Texas, Mary (Tony) Boutin of New Hampshire, and Marcia (David O’Neil) Talbot of New Hampshire, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Bob’s brother Jamie died in 1972.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday, January 6 at Skinner Funeral Home in Cumberland, with visitation 1:00 to 3:00 PM prior to the service. Burial will follow at Lakeside Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Cumberland Area Friends of Scouting, PO Box 415, Cumberland WI 54829.