Robert Lawrence (bob) Mattingly Obituary

Robert Lawrence (bob) Mattingly attended Mt Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, TX. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Robert Lawrence (bob) Mattingly.

Graduation Year	Class of 1946
Date of Passing	May 12, 2011
About	Robert Lawrence (Bob) Mattingly was the youngest sibling of my dear Mother and even though he was about ten years my senior he at times, at least, seemed more like an “older brother” to us nephews and nieces with his seeming continuous interest and concern about each of us throughout our childhood and adult lives. Thus with this brief background, I can say that for the past few years Bob and I have had many wonderful and uplifting long distance telephone conversations, many of which involved history of family and of when he and grew up around the little east Texas town of Mount Vernon, Texas. And, it was during one of these treasured telephone conversations that we had that I mentioned that he, Bob was actually one of my “role models” when I was growing up. This seemed to take Bob by surprise as he remarked that he had never really thought of himself that way; for, you see, Bob was a humble person who probably “sold himself short” with giving any credit to himself. But, I persisted and told him that I had always admired him for “sticking with it” in finishing high school under difficult circumstances; for electing to “join the Army” to “make his own way” despite help offered by several of his older siblings to attend College; to eventually attain senior sergeant rank in the US Army in only about six years: to eventually accept a position as a civilian employee with the US Army and retiring many years later as a senior Civilian manager with the Army; becoming a member of the Masonic order and attaining a high degree in that organization; being a devout Christian and member of the Baptist faith, and finally becoming a prominent and upstanding Citizen of the community of Winnsboro, Texas. Bob was characterized by his older brother, James Leslie, to me one time, as being “gutty” and being able to readily attain a lot of “savvy” in a hurry about things like computers. All these attainments and attributes of my Uncle Bob I respect very much and am most thankful that I had the opportunity for telling him so before his sudden decease on May 12, 2011.