Robert Driscoll

Robert Benjamin Driscoll was a loving husband, father and grandfather who devoted his heart and career to the care of others. He was a great family man, skilled teacher and attentive counselor. His family was his joy, his students were his inspiration, and his friends were his encouragement. Robert was born to Frank and Dorothy (Petersen) Driscoll on April 17, 1935 in Muskegon, Michigan at a time when families were trying to make life pleasant during the Great Depression. As an only child, Bob enjoyed the full attention of his stay-at-home mother and his father, who taught school and coached football and track. Having spent so much of his childhood going with his dad to games and track meets, Bob quite naturally got into sports and played baseball and ran track. It didnt hurt that he grew up on Fourth Street, right across from the Muskegon High School football stadium in downtown Muskegon. It was a neighborhood filled with kids, so Bob and his friends stayed active from morning till night. Bob attended McLaughlin Elementary School, Central Junior High and Muskegon High School, from which he graduated in 1953. He went on to Muskegon Community College for two years and transferred to Western Michigan University, where he earned bachelors and masters degrees in American history. At the same time, he began refereeing high school basketball games and eventually refereed high school football. From his upbringing and education, Bob was on a trajectory to teach and coach, like his father before him. After college, Bob returned to Muskegon, moved back into his parents home and found a teaching job at Reeths Puffer High School. In 1964, his future took a turn toward romance when he was introduced to a young teacher-graduate who was looking for a job at the school. Bob and Marietta Marti Workman first met in the teachers lounge and hit it off immediately. Within six weeks they were engaged, and they sealed their commitment in marriage on April 2, 1965. Bob and Marti settled in the Lakeside area of Muskegon and continued their teaching careers. However, when their two children were born Scott in 1968 and Susan in 1971 Marti decided to stay at home with the kids and substitute teach just enough to keep her certification. When Mona Shores High School opened, Bob took a position teaching American history, and he continued to referee sports for the next 25 years. When the family moved to a house on Wittkop Street in Norton Shores, they made it their home. It was a great neighborhood to raise kids because families all knew each other through frequent daily contact and at special events like block parties. Over the 30 years they lived there, Bob and Marti invested in the lives of their children and neighbors. After several years of teaching, Bob decided to become a school counselor and eventually earned a masters in counseling at Western Michigan. Counseling at Mona Shores High School during the years that his children also attended, Bob not only knew some things about his kids before they got home (like grades), he also had the advantage of knowing what teens were going through. During the experimental years of the 1960s, Bob saw what drug use did to students, and as a result, he became a little more strict on his own children. To their credit, both kids turned out well and made their parents very proud. Summers were great times for teacher families. Bob had the leisure of playing golf and teaching his kids to play. He loved the game and became a longtime member at Oak Ridge golf course, playing every Saturday with the same 4-some for many years. Like teachers often did during the summer, Bob also taught drivers training and painted houses. Vacationing as a family, they loaded up the car and traveled to such spots as northern Michigan, Kentucky and, of course, Chicago because Bob was a huge Cubs fan. Over the tenure of his stay at Mona Shores High School, Bob was made Director of Counseling, a post he was committed to right through to retirement in 1991. At that time, Marti kept working so Bob stayed home and cleaned house, did the grocery shopping and started dinner for the two of them to enjoy over the course of an evening. He also kept a perfectly manicured lawn and was so particular about keeping it just right that (luckily for his kids) he never allowed anyone else to mow it. In addition, the garage was always neat and clean and Bob often detailed cars for other people. For fun and competition, he played a lot of Cribbage with several longtime partners and even accomplished two perfect hands in his lifetime. In truth, Bob was a people person and he regularly volunteered with the Red Cross and was active in the Old Newsboys. When Marti retired in 2004, she and Bob traveled more and to farther destinations in Europe, Costa Rica, the Canadian Rockies, Hawaii and an Alaskan cruise. For several years, they wintered in South Padre Island, Texas but always came back home because they were grandparents, and to Bob that was the best job in the world. Bob had a heart attack and died unexpectedly on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at the age of 73. Family and friends will miss a great guy with a dry sense of humor who loved life and lived it fully. Mr. Robert B. Driscoll is survived by his wife, Marti; 1 son, Scott (Keri) Driscoll of Brownstown, MI; 1 daughter, Susan (Tom) Vereecke of Brighton, MI; 3 grandchildren, Ryan Driscoll, Cameron Driscoll and Kevin Vereecke; parent- in-laws, Harold and Ruth Workman; brother-in-law, John (Kathy) Workman and 2 nephews, Michael (Ella) and Matthew Workman. A service to celebrate his life will be held Friday, May 2, 2008, 11:00 AM at the church of his membership, First Presbyterian, with Rev. Fred R. Halde officiating. Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, 6-9 PM at Clock Life Story Funeral Home Muskegon. Memorial gifts to Old Newsboys or Mona Shores Dollars for Scholars Fund are greatly appreciated. Please visit www.lifestorynet.com to leave a memory of Bob or to sign the online guest book.