Celebrating
Bob Cline
Additional anecdotes to accompany Bob's Memorial in the Bread & Butter Magazine
“I have fond memories of working on cars with Bob. A bunch of us – Mike DeFlumeri (past DG), Pete Buscemi (current DG), Earl Coombs (past DG partner) – used to get together and work on Mark Lovejoy’s corvette (also past DG employee).”
Marc Patruski
"I first met Bob in 1992 when I started at DG and figured out, he was a good resource for this newbie. It wasn’t until I returned to the Dennis Group in 2004 that I really got to know Bob. He and Gamelli would offer their company when I would venture over to the food court for lunch. I would eat and listen to Bob and Mike discuss the issues of the world. It was great fun. Not sure if I have the quote quite right but I remember Bob saying, 'I came to the Dennis Group to make money not friends. If I make some friends that’s a bonus.' Bob was a colleague, but he was also a friend and will be missed."
“Words of praise and homage to Bob come very easily. I spent a lot of time with him during a period encompassing Chambersburg, PA and then Yuma, AZ – so many memories flood my brain:
- The time we drove out to the movie set in the desert and got in because somebody thought I looked like the director.
- The time we were measuring for holes to be drilled in a concrete wall, 20’ above the floor well after hours and the lift wouldn’t let us down. After assessing alternatives, we were going to settle in for the night, when some contractor rescued us.
- The photo of Bobby taken at the Yuma County Jail
Scraping up thick sugar syrup that had spilled in a ceiling space for many hours. - Road trip to Mexico with contractors
- Many, many lunch dates in cochituate, Springfield (Tik Tok Lounge will always be a favorite) and elsewhere
- The innumerable times he came through in the clutch with work that contributed to the success of a project.”
Karl Landgraf
"Bob Cline gave me my first real CAD work to tackle when I started at Dennis Group in 2008. He handed me a stack of his markups for Malt-O-Meal pipe supports, and I got to work tagging support locations. He possessed a wealth of process design knowledge and would always be generous with his time to pass along his experience and advice. We would share anecdotes about growing up in southern Worcester County, and he would tell me about his kids. I learned a lot from Bob, and I am grateful to have been able to work with him and get to know him over the years."
“Bob taught me how to be a professional. He wasn’t originally a ‘DG guy.’ I knew him at Carlson and heard stories of him at Badger Engineers.
He was always a consummate professional regardless of employer. He was always asking for equipment cut sheets, shop drawings, instrument details, etc. He never wanted to issue a piping drawing if he didn’t have the most current information.
He’d be at my desk five times per day explaining what he needed and why it was important. For years this frustrated me until I figured out that he was trying to make me better.
He loved that Bob Brogle’s nickname for me was ‘Boy Engineer.’ It took a decade to gain his trust.
He wasn’t conventional; he didn’t always look the part or ‘talk a good game’, but he never took a day off and he never had a bad day. Even if we stayed out late the previous evening, he was always first to the jobsite.
He was always on a first-name basis with contractors within a week. It was his way of cultivating relationships, and honestly, he was always looking for a chance to talk and gather the latest gossip. Intuitively, he knew that if he cared about them that they would care about their work and their continued relationship with DG. He never had to work at it. I did, but I’ve never forgotten the lesson.
Our Creator only doles out so much talent to every person. Bob never forgot a name or a good story, but he couldn’t send a two-sentence email without a couple of unforced spelling or grammatical errors.
I miss him already.
As Gustav Mahler said: ‘All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.’ That was how Bob worked.”
Scott Hurd
Some quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.
