Robert Kendal Graves
Robert K. Graves died peacefully at home with family present on April 29, 2025 in Goleta, CA. He was 87. Born on January 31, 1938 in England, as a child Bob slept in a London Underground station with his siblings Anthony and Sally to keep safe from bombing during WWII. This reality of the time helped to form his enduring and uncomplaining character, as well as his fundamentally swift sense of humor, even in difficult times.
He spent time in the British Army before embarking to America in the late 1960’s, on the second to last voyage of the Queen Mary. He followed his brother to Los Angeles, where the emerging aircraft industry made interesting employment opportunities available. Bob had great aptitude with anything mechanical, understanding instinctively how gears and mechanisms operate. As a youth, he worked with clocks, and as an adult his skills branched out into applications related to optics. His career brought him to Santa Barbara, where he worked at Sloan Industries, SBRC and Hughes, eventually retiring from Raytheon.
He met Marny Jolly, also English and an Olympic athlete, at Chuck’s Hawaiian Steakhouse. They married in 1969 and soon welcomed two children, before parting ways in 1978. Bob moved to Goleta, where he established a formidable machine shop in his garage. As an engineer, he both designed and built, often working into the wee hours.
Projects Bob got involved in were many. He liked to explore junkyards and the swap meet on Sundays – finding a forty foot stainless steel slide led to the creation of a roomy, well-made treehouse. An as-is sign in the window of a 1966 Mercedes 230s for sale for $500 led to the rebuild of an engine that turned out not to have a cracked head. Using parts purchased wholesale from Teddy at Moritz, he provided the safest first land yacht his daughter Kate could possibly drive. He was the main mechanic for his son Mike’s fishing boat, so he could independently navigate the channel and beyond. Over the years Bob always had an old truck on hand for odd jobs including helping, hauling and for trips to the dump.
For a time Bob was a regular at the English Department, a local pub run by a former UCSB professor, where he honed his gift for telling stories. He had a way with words, whether writing an occasional satirical epic poem or singing bawdy ballads in a deep baritone for the amusement of friends. He liked good dogs – not all dogs – carrying treats in his pockets and opening the front door in welcome when the neighborhood labrador came calling.
Bob is remembered as being highly intelligent, skillful and consistent. His observational nature allowed him to find common sense in an increasingly complex world. He was not given to aesthetic display, preferring to live an almost austere life of modest consumption. By working hard, Bob achieved a version of the American Dream that seems idyllic in retrospect. He is survived by daughter Kathryn of Bucks County, PA, son Michael (Elisabeth Wiarda) of Goleta, CA and their children Bo and Bosley.
