Bob was the first child of Robert Blair, Sr. and Rita Francis Connelly's. Dad--also known as "Skipper" or "Mike"--had transferred from Army Air Corps to armored cavalry and was receiving tank training at Fort Knox. Bob soon inheritted the nickname "Mick".

        They soon moved to Fort Meade, home of the 3rd (armored) Cavalry, where Mick became a big brother, when Russ was born. He was named after Dad's brother, who had already named his two sons Russ and Robert. The extended family now had three Bobs (Dad, Mick, and cousin Bobby) and three Russes (Uncle Russ, brother Russ, and cousin Russ).

        Dad volunteered for overseas duty shortly before the Korean War broke out. He was assigned to Germany, where brother Jeff was born.

        Our family moved back to the States and was completed with the arrival of Greg in February. Dad worked at the Pentagon and bought a house at 3130 So. Glebe Rd.
        Mick entered first grade at Oakridge Elementary School and continued through the first semester of fourth grade.
        Cowboy toys, movies, and TV programs were very popular in the 1950s and 60s. So were toy soldiers and dinky toys. Each toy was marked with Mom's nail polish. One dot for Mick, two for Russ, etc.

Left photo: November 1954.
Mick in the front next to baby Greg

Right photo: November 1955.
Mick in the back row between Mom and Dad

        When we lived on the East Coast, we visited our grandparents in Philadelphia and at Cape Cod each summer, where we met our Toner and Fox cousins.

Cape Cod, Mass. in the summer of 1956.
We all enjoyed the sand and the raft at New Silver Beach.
Sand photo: Mick on the left side of group of 3 boys in the middle
Raft photo: Mick (left) and Russ (right) standing by the ladder

Arlington in December 1957.
Blair boys in their bow ties and in the bath.
Bow tie photo: Mick on the far left
Bath photo: Big brother Mick holding the baby

        Dad had gone on ahead to his next assignment. Mom and the boys followed him when the school semester finished. There were lots of shots to get before we left. Then we flew over the pole with stop overs in Alaska and Japan.

        Mick finished fourth grade at the American school and continued through sixth grade. Parents taught the classes. Some students attended in the morning session, others attended in the afternoon. The Blair boys all attended in the morning. That left afternoons free for a lot of kickball and roaming through the rice paddies that surrounded our house. At first we lived up the hill at "Lower Pressure Village". Later we moved to a second house, close to the main road across from the school.

American elementary school in 1960.
Bird's eye view of the school
Mrs. Garrett's sixth grade class
Mick in the front row, far left

        The family moved back to America. Each of the boys chose a baseball team and which kind of coins they would collect. Mick chose the New York Yankees (Mickey Mantle was the star player) and collected dimes. He and Jeff took tennis lessons. When the lessons finished there was a tournament. Jeff lost in the semi-finals, then Mick beat Jeff's opponent in the finals and clinched the trophy. (Years later in Hawaii Mom recycled it as the Laniloa Cup trophy for a Blair family tourament.)

September 1961.
Comparing heights. Dad is 6 foot 2. Mom about 5 foot 9.
The boys get paired off as the Big Boys (Mick and Russ)
and the Little Boys (Jeff and Greg).

        We returned to our house on the banks of Four Miles Run. Mick graduated from Gunston Jr. High and went on to the full three years at Wakefield High School. Arlington had one of the best public school systems in the country.

Thanksgiving 1964 in Arlington.
Robert Jr., Rita, Faz (George), Robert Sr., and Muz (Anna) in the back.
Greg, Jeff, and Dutch (Florence Love) in the front row.

        Mick went to VMI for his first three years of college, the first year as a "rat". (He had been born in the Year of the Rat, by the way.) He survived Rat Year and went on to take Ranger training. Summers were spent in Hawaii, Dad's assignment after 8 months in Korea.

Hawaii the Endless Summer of 1967.
Surfing USA--Robert Jr., Greg, Jeff, and Russ
head out to Barber's Point from Schofield Barracks.

Honolulu in July 1968.
Family photo with all the boys home from school.
Jeff, Russ, and Robert Jr. in the back.
Robert Sr., Rita, and Greg in the front row.

        Bob finished with a degree in English Literature at the University of Hawaii in Manoa. Due to the transfer from VMI to UH he missed his ROTC basic training and the Army forgot about it.

        The Army sent Bob to law school. Jeff visited him there in September 1970. In the spring of 1971 he joined the May Day protesters and on the second day was arrested in front of the Pentagon. (Charges were later dropped.)

        Bob left law school and returned to Hawaii. He worked at Ala Moana Bookstore and enjoyed the beach at Fort DeRussy until he accidently ran into the head of UH ROTC, who wondered why Bob was still a civilian. The Army decided to call him up as a private (not as an officer), because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and to blame him for missing basic training. A court-martial ensued in the summer of 1972. Bob successfully defended himself.

        Freed from military service, Bob decided to join the Peace Corps. He was assigned to teach English in Thailand. That is where he met and fell in love with Peggy. After five years in Thailand, he was offered an administrative position in Washington, DC.

        On the way home via Israel (Jan to April). He picked bananas and Peggy, who joined him later, sorted apples.

Honolulu 1977.
Bob stopped by Hawaii on his way to Washington.
The last time that all six of us were together

        Bob and Peggy moved to a small, unfurnished apartment in Washington, DC and got married.

The Honeymoon Period
Bob relaxing with a book and
keeping Peggy in line, the colonial way

        Bob and Peggy visited Japan to attend Jeff and Yoko's wedding, Dec 1982. In the spring the newly weds visited them in Arlington. Bob had started growing his beard and it just kept growing and growing.

Bob's Beard: Before and After
Sightseeing in Kyoto, Temple of the Gold Pavilion
Back home in Arlington, looking a bit fuzzy

        Bob attended the University of Maryland at College Park, where he picked up a master's degree in economics. He got a job with the Federal Maritime Commission.
        When Makoto went to Culver Academies in Indiana, he spent vacations (except the longer summer vacation) with his uncles and cousins in Washington and Florida.

Civil Servant and Surrogate Dad
Bob at work on the far left and
showing Makoto colleges (Baltimore area)

Family Wedding 2019
Bob closely examining a document (left)
lined up on the porch with the whole family
Bob giving a speech (right)

        There were occasional family reunions in Hawaii.