Robert W. “Bob/Chris” Christensen

Robert W. (Bob/Chris) Christensen passed away quietly at home on 10/23/13. He was born in Bakersfield in 1928 and moved to Santa Barbara as a teenager. He graduated from Santa Barbara High School and obtained a BS in Pharmacology from USC. He enlisted in the Navy after graduation, attended Officer Candidate school and was assigned to Underwater Demolition Team Eleven as a 2nd Lieutenant. After discharge from active duty he briefly worked as a Pharmacist but quit in 1960 to pursue a commercial diving career. He was instrumental in the formation of Santa Barbara City College’s Marine Diving Technician Program where he taught for 16 years. He retired from teaching in 1985 and after several years of retirement joined Kirby Morgan Diving Systems where he worked until this year.

Bob was a pioneer in the diving industry as well as an avid fisherman, backpacker, gardener and cook. His love for the outdoors took him to the high Sierras backpacking with his family most summers in his younger years and then to the R Ranch in Northern California where he enjoyed quietly fishing and spending time under the trees with his wife. His love of the oceans, lakes, rivers and streams was unparalleled; life was grand with a fishing pole in his hands.

He is survived by his wife, June, his children John (Marcie) Christensen, Susan (Darrin) Gollnick, Lisa Christensen, Katherine (Roger) Collis, Nathan Lane (former partner Kerry), nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by all.

For information on his memorial please call 541-899-3926 or to RSVP using the following link: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0F44AAAF2DA4FB6-bobs

Donations can be made in Bob’s Memory to either the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum 113 Harbor Way #109, Santa Barbara, CA 93109 or to Christensen Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o Santa Barbara City College MDT Dept., 721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93109.