Robert Kendrick

Robert Christian Kendrick died Dec. 18. He was 82.

Kendrick was born Jan. 14, 1932, to Eva and Richard Kendrick in Oakland, California and was the youngest of four children. His sister, Ruth, and his two brothers, Richard and Bill, preceded him in death.

He attended high school in Oakland, graduated from San Francisco City College, and then joined the Coast Guard in the early 50s. His assigned duty was on the USCGC Finch as an electrician and after his military duty ended, he was retained in the Coast Guard Reserves, completing eight years of service under the UMT & S Act. He was decorated with the Korean Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. He was always very proud of his military service and continued throughout his life to make donations to charities for Veterans.

In October of 1956, Kendrick was introduced to Carol Faith Macfadden on a blind date in San Leandro and they jitterbugged the night away. It must have been love at first sight, because three months later, on Dec. 23, they were married in a ceremony at the First Methodist Church in Oakland. They would continue to dance together every chance they got and were always the handsomest couple on the dance floor.

Kendrick and his wife moved to Livermore, California soon after they wed. They started their family and Kendrick began his career as an electrician at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He and his coworkers in the electronics shop were a close group and they developed friendships that would last for many years. They formed a Lob ball team and all of their families would come together to cheer for this fun loving group of men. For many years, Kendrick worked on the Magnetic Fusion Energy Project. He was an electronics technician supervisor who was very well liked by everyone who knew him. He retired from LLNL in 1991 after 35 years. After his retirement, he began working as a handyman at Valley Memorial Hospital in Livermore, where his wife was employed.

Upon his wife’s retirement in 1996, the pair moved to Cameron Park, California, where they enjoyed the peace and serenity of their beautiful home and natural surroundings.  For the next 18 years, Kendrick continued to enjoy dancing, gardening, traveling and attending performing arts events with his wife of 58 years.

Kendrick was a man of many talents and excelled at everything he did.  He was an extremely kind, soft spoken, peaceful and patient man. He was supportive and nurturing and his priority was always to make sure that his family was provided for. He wanted nothing more than to see that his family was healthy, happy and together.

He was a dedicated husband to his wife, Carol; loving father and grandfather to his three daughters, Debbie, Diana and Deena; and grandchildren, Heather, Kyle, Katie, Gabriel and Jessica.

A celebration of Kendrick’s life will be held on Jan. 14 at 11:30 a.m., at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road in Dixon, California.  In his memory, donations may be made to the Semper Fi Fund.