I just heard this news too. Kind of hit me hard.
A year ago, I moved my mom into assisted living at Pioneer Ridge in Lawrence. She was only there about two months before she passed (inoperable cancer), but during that stretch I spent a lot of time there. There were a few residents who sort of hung out in the main lobby area most of the day, and I sat and chatted with them all the time…including one cheerful guy who introduced himself as Bob. “Bob, with one O.” ha ha.
His voice was Kansas-ish familiar but not like his radio voice and he seemed taller and face was thinner than I remembered, but it was good ol’ Bob Davis. I found out by asking someone who knew him (not at the facility) that he was there living with his wife, who had Parkinson’s. For about a month and a half I talked to him like he was just “Bob the Greeter” because I figured maybe he got tired of talking about the KU sports gig with anyone and everyone who met him. Always wore blue KU golf shirts. Liked to exchange bad jokes, so I tried to have one ready.
Toward the end (while my mom was in hospice care), I was taking a break while she slept, wandered down to the lobby, and sat down to catch up on some work. Bob appeared from down the hall and sat next to me, and we had the only serious conversation we would have. He asked why I was there so often, and I told him what was going on. I asked him where he grew up and how he ended up in Lawrence, and he told me his whole life long story from Iola, KS, to Fort Hays State to Lawrence. We agreed that, looking back, it was sort of wild to end up where we were. So, at that point I finally thanked him for giving me and us KU fans such great memories for so many years.
His wife, Linda, just died last week on the 13th. I was wondering how he was doing. Thought about checking in many times in the past year… but, that’s about the best memory I have of the place.
