Robert Lee Tritsch

Bob’s Story

Robert Lee Tritsch (Bob) was born December 8,1952 in Columbus, Nebraska. He is survived by his older sister Starr Goode from San Jose; his wife, Kathleen (Kathy) Tritsch; his two daughters: Kristina Lukus from Denver and Melinda Tritsch from San Diego; his son-in-law Brian Lukus from Denver and Bob’s two favorite adorable grandkids Joe, 5 years old and Sierra, 3 years old. Bob was predeceased by his mother and father, Dolores Detimore Tritsch and William Tritsch and younger sister, Ann D’Ambruoso.

In sixth grade, he met his lifelong friend, Perry (Lee) Blevins. They agreed to both join the Army, however, Perry joined the Navy, so Bob went the next day and joined the Marine Corps. Bob graduated from Santa Clara High School, in 1971.

Bob attended boot camp in August 1971 in San Diego. From 1972-1974 he served on the USS Ranger Aircraft Carrier in the Gulf of Vietnam in “blue waters.” While aboard the ship, Bob completed the hazing tradition when you cross the equator and went from a Polliwog to a Shellback. He kept the card showing he was a Shellback in his wallet until he passed.

Bob also had a tour in Hawthorne, Nevada, the largest ammunition depot in the world, where Bob worked in external security, securing hundreds of underground ammunition bunkers and tunnels.

Bob was stationed in 1978 at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. Bob and Kathy met in the Honolulu airport in August 1979. He joined Kathy’s paddling club to be together. First official date was in October to a basketball game; second date was to the Marine Corps ball, and afterwards to a show in Waikiki. During the show, of course, the host asked Bob up to the stage in his dress blues to get him to laugh--- true to Bob he stayed in Marine form at attention, not speaking or cracking a smile. Bob asked Kathy to marry him the next day. Kathy waited until mid December to say “yes” and they were married April 26, 1980 in San Jose. Kathy and Bob just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

Kathy and Bob lived in Waikiki until January 1981, then moved to San Diego when Bob was transferred to MCRD. We bought our first house in May 1981, and continue to live in this house today.

Bob’s favorite duty station was MCRD, San Diego, where he had 3 years from 1981-1984 as a proud drill instructor developing new Marines. He was also the Marine Liaison at Balboa hospital during the first Gulf war. Gunnery Sergeant Tritsch ended his 20 year Marine Corps career in 1991 with a General of MCRD leading a retirement parade drill.

After the Marine Corps, Bob worked a short time at Mervyns in security. In those days you could physically apprehend shop-lifters. One of Bob’s arrests was put on a TV show in the 1990’s. From 1993 until 2020, Bob worked at Solar Turbines (part of Caterpillar, Inc) as a production scheduler. They produce enormous gas turbines. He really enjoyed his co-workers and the job. After he retired, he was asked back to work, and continued to work at Solar until the summer of 2024. He completed a total of 30 years at Solar.

Bob’s hobbies include volunteering on the USS Midway; volunteering for the California Highway Patrol; volunteering at Skyline Church; fishing, especially salmon fishing in Alaska; Square Dancing; shooting pool, playing cards (especially hearts and spades), playing board games, Mahjong, and Cribbage; camping with friends and family. For Adults Only: Bob also took on the role of Santa Claus during the holidays. He’d take any requests to go to people’s homes and had a full schedule during the holidays, even shaving off his mustache to be Santa.

God walked along side of Bob during his cancer journey. Beginning with a CT scan of his lungs, that accidentally showed a tumor on his kidney in May 2023.

There were many ups and downs during his battle with cancer. In January 2025, Kathy and Bob temporarily moved to Denver, CO for 4 months to be closer to their oldest daughter and her family. During their stay in Denver Bob’s health worsened. Bob repeatedly said he wanted to go home after 4 months. And after a valiant battle at the VA hospital near Denver, Bob did go home to his Lord on Monday, May 12, 2025. He’s now at his next duty station, guarding Heaven’s gates.

Bob’s final wishes in the last days of his life:

• Live longer- doctors smiled at Bob when he said this
• See his grandkids- doctors made arrangements for grandkids to visit in ICU
• Have a glass of milk or lemonade. At that point, Bob could not have anything orally, only a few chips of ice. However, we had a toast in ICU with one of his doctors helping Bob sip some milk. It created a lasting memory of the compassionate care provided by workers at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA hospital near Denver.

Semper Fi