By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
Robert J. Welch seemed to live quietly enough, but a biting wit lurked within the Evergreen Park plumber.
Six-feet-6-inches tall and cowboy-thin, he cut a striking figure with his white hair and beard.
Mostly he kept mum though, and the words that did emerge from his mouth often were accompanied by a little bit of zing.
For instance, Mr. Welch called his family pets throughout the years Fred — even though their names really were Edgar or Doyle.
“All of his animals were named Fred because he couldn’t keep track of the names,” said his daughter-in-law Tina Welch. “Then they got a cat and named it Fred, and he called it George.”
Mr. Welch died at age 61 on Jan. 17.
He died the way he liked to live — it was a cowboy’s death, Welch said.
“He had a steak on the table, the dogs at his feet and the cigarettes just out of reach,” she said.
One bite into his meat, he suffered a heart attack.
Born in Evergreen Park, Mr. Welch spent his life in the village. He and the bride he met during high school would buy his mother’s home, the house he grew up in on Ridgeland Avenue, to raise their two children.
“They loved the small town — that was their ‘Mayberry RFD,’ and that’s what they called it,” Welch said, alluding to the idyllic town from the “Andy Griffith Show.”
The youngest of three children, Mr. Welch graduated from Brother Rice High School and enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War. He was married, but his wife stayed behind while he was sent to Germany.
After the war, Mr. Welch became a plumber, like his older brother before him. It was work that suited his silent nature. For years, he worked on pipes and plumbing in various Chicago Housing Authority homes, and he logged time in the old Robert Taylor housing projects.
“He liked doing it,” Welch simply said of his chosen profession.
Mr. Welch would tinker with the family’s pipes, too.
In fact, he spent a lot of his spare time tinkering for his children and grandchildren. He did the grocery shopping, ran errands, watched pets.
“The delivery person, the run this to the credit union to pay my bills,” Welch said of him. He drove his grandchildren around a lot, too.
“One of the first things his granddaughter said was, ‘I’m going to have to get a bus pass now.’ “
Mr. Welch also is survived by his wife, Janice; his son Robert Jr.; his daughter Jennifer; four granddaughters: Tanya, Terry, Tricia and Liz; a sister, Mary Woosley; a brother, Thomas; and many nieces, nephews and friends.
Arrangements were by Kosary Funeral Home, (708) 499-3223.
Donations to the Evergreen Park Public Library, where Mr. Welch checked out books by the dozens to feed his voracious appetite for reading, would be appreciated: Evergreen Park Public Library Foundation, 9400 S. Troy Ave., Evergreen Park, IL 60805.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
