Arnold R. Clobes

Clobes was born on Aug. 8, 1939, in Wadena, Minnesota to Harold and Agnes Clobes. After graduating from Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Minnesota in 1957 he attended South Dakota State University for two years and later graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1962 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He attended Brooklyn Polytechnic from 1964 to 1966 where he earned a master’s degree in electro physics.

His first job was at Bell Labs in New York from 1962 to 1964 where he met his future wife, Carol Collins, in the church choir in 1963. They moved to Connecticut where he worked at United Aircraft Research and Development in East Hartford for 10 years from 1966 to 1976. In 1976 he moved to Richland, Washington to work for Exxon Research and Development from 1976 to 1981. In 1981 he moved to Livermore, California where he worked for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) until his retirement in 2011 after working on the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) program and on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) project as an operations manager.

Clobes is survived by his wife of 55 years Carol Clobes, son Scott Clobes in Denver, Colorado, son Todd Clobes and his wife Dawn in Sacramento, California, granddaughter Sabrina Clobes, sister Lila Panek, brothers Armin Clobes and Don Clobes, and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life service will be held at Our Saviors Lutheran Ministries (OSLM) at 1385 S Livermore Ave., Livermore, on June 24, at 3 p.m. Charitable donations can be made to the OSLM school scholarship fund or to a charity of your choice.