Bobby died August 17, 2020, in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was one of the first 20 candidates for the Redding "Smokejumper Retread Program" where USFS employees train as smokejumpers and return to their regular jobs. They were called back to duty when there was a need for more jumpers. Bobby was injured in 1963 before training and did not make it to Redding until 1966 for rookie training.

He jumped at Redding 1966, transferred to Fairbanks in 1967, returned to Redding 1968-70 and back to Fairbanks for the 1974 season. Bobby stayed in Fairbanks and worked for the BLM as Helitack foreman 1971-73 and was parachute loft foreman 1974-82. He was the BLM fixed wing ramp foreman 1983-84 and, in 1985, he became the fixed wing specialist for BLM Alaska. Bobby retired in 1990. After retirement, he worked periodically at the tanker base on Ft. Wainwright/AFS.