Robert Sell

Robert (Bob) Sell of La Mirada, California, died peacefully in his sleep at home on December 11, 2013. He is survived by his beloved wife, Bonnie Ward Sell, a garden of daughters - Gerry, Cheri, and Susan Sell (Nate Mason) and Mary (Dennis) Guy-Sell - grandchildren Rob Feder and Anne-Marie Guy-Sell - and the cherished gift of bonus sons, daughters and grandchildren: Tim (Naomi) Ward, Paul (Karen) Ward, and Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Savannah and Logan Ward.



Bob was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1925, and was adopted in infancy. His fathers work in civil engineering took them all over the country. They settled in Detroit, where young Bobby fell in love with the river, with jazz - and with radios. He graduated from Cass Technical High School. During World War II he put his electronics skills to work in defense plants, and it was there he met his first wife, Edna Smith. He courted her by building her a radio. They married in 1945, and began a lifetime of adventures, starting with parenthood. The city boy and his little family moved to Wisconsin to live with Ednas parents on the farm with a dog named Bingo. (There would always be a dog.) Bob loved life on the farm and liked helping his father-in-law saw pulpwood logs for the paper mill, shingle the massive barn, and cut Christmas trees. He was an avid reader and worked in town at a radio repair shop and at the paper mill.



In the 50s they thought they would spend the rest of their lives in Wisconsin but Bob took an aptitude test that showed he had a certain talent for a mysterious kind of work called computer programming. He was offered a job by a company called International Business Machines. They moved to New York, and Bob began a 30 plus year career with IBM that took the Sells to Washington DC and eventually to California. Bob was especially proud of his work on the Space program, watching the shuttle land at Edwards Air Force Base, meeting the astronauts in Houston, and prominently displaying a picture of the space station in his home office. (He named their dog NASA.)



All four daughters graduated from college and built careers. Best of all, there were grandchildren who inspired Bob to become an avid Big Brothers volunteer. Bob and Edna joined the LA Wheelman and cycled all over southern California. One year they went on a cycling tour of Hawaii. Another year they took their bicycles to Europe and did the Grand Tour by rail and pedal.



Bob retired from IBM and he and Edna bought an RV. It took them all across the country on visits to those four daughters and their families. Sadly, after 46 years of adventures, Edna died.



Bob was devastated. In his grief he poured his energy into a long-deferred project. He was on a mission to learn about his birth family. He formed the notion that the tools of genealogy might help him, and he contacted the Whittier Area Genealogical Society (WAGS) for advice. President Bonnie Ward, a widow herself, helped him get started. His story touched her deeply, and they spent many hours working through records together.



Bob and Bonnie fell in love - a second chapter neither had ever imagined. They married and got to know each others adult daughters and sons. They spent the next 20 years traveling in the RV with a dog named Amore (there would always be a dog), visiting their far-flung children and grandchildren, going to genealogy conferences. They were active members of the St. Matthias Church. They made beautiful gardens at their house and fed the hummingbirds and goldfinches that flocked there. They cherished their good neighbors, their friends from WAGS and St. Matthias, Bobs lunch group of IBM retirees. They cherished each other. Bob will be dearly missed.



There will be a service at St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Whittier on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at 10:30 am, with a luncheon following. If you wish to honor Bobs memory, please consider a gift to your favorite charity, or to one of his: the Soup Hour at St. Matthias Church, the Salvation Army, Big Brothers Big Sisters, or your communitys dog rescue organization.