A Tribute for
Robert Luther Gruner
(G-75-33)

His family called him “Bobby” for many years, and perhaps some still do, but most of us now think of him as “Bob,” especially now that he has grown to become the patriarch of the Wenzel Edward Gruner family. (For those of you who may have forgotten or didn’t know, he is the big brother of Nancy, our Webmaster.)

Bob has lived most of his life in Memphis, Tennessee. He served his country as a member of the Tennessee National Guard. He worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company and retired from there several years ago. He and his wife, Carolyn Scott, have no children.

What makes Bob special is his incredible knowledge of electronics, including computers. Much of his continuing thirst for knowledge is self-taught, beginning in childhood when anything mechanical was a challenge to take apart to find what made it work.

From building his own crystal radio in childhood, he advanced into the age of computers, starting with the early personal computer, the Apple, and advancing into the high speed technology of the Pentium processor.

He has followed the advances of the Internet Highway from its embryonic days as an educational tool between universities to its world-wide applications of today. He may not know everything, but he well knows how to find it through the Internet.

Bob has been invaluable to those of us who have been working with the Gruner Heritage website. When something goes wrong with our often reluctant computers, what is the first thing we do? Ask Bob!

Bob has a birthday on May 29. He has had a number of health problems, but he is following the best medical advice available, so we have no hesitancy in wishing him many more happy years ahead. We hope the rest of you will take the time to echo that wish.

Happy Birthday, Bob!


Written by Marian Zang