Catalina Rotary Club Member Bio
Bob Stofft
Industrial Gas Engineer
Full Name
Robert Eugene Stofft
Nickname
Bob
Partner Name
Cherry Ann Frederick
Place of Birth/Hometown
Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 21, 1939 (A below zero and dreary night)
My Story
Father: The ‘Best percussionist in the Midwest’, ‘The Bill Stofft Orchestra’
Mother: Vocalist in a Jazz Trio, ‘The Coquettes’
They met at the St. Paul Hotel when they were on the same bill for four weeks, in 1935. They were married in 1936. Three children were born in Minneapolis, Bill, Bob and Joan.
My first nine years in Minneapolis, the next 5 years in Glendale, CA, and finally high school in Watertown, SD, class of 1957, followed by college in Rapid City, SD. At the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, BS Civil Engineering, January 1962.
ROTC 4 years, commissioned on graduation, spend 2-1/2 years active duty with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Re-enlisted each year in the Army Reserves and completed 28 years of Service in 1990.
Three years in Phoenix with the Trane Company, then moved to Tucson to open the Trane office here in January 1968. Lori was born here October 1968. She is a Vice President at Arizona Western College in Yuma. Lori and Michael have one daughter, Mary Nova Michaell. Jim was born here May 1970. He is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Jim and Susan have two daughters, Anna Cosette and Erin Lorraine. All three Granddaughters are graduates of the University of Arizona.
Mary was a University of Minnesota graduate in 1965 with a BS in Physical Therapy. We were married in December 1965. As a Registered Physical Therapist, she worked in Phoenix at the Good Samaritan Hospital, and in Tucson at Tucson Medical Center, El Dorado and St. Joseph Hospitals. Mary died in January 2001, of Ovarian Cancer.
After working in highway design for the California Highway Department, I went on Active Duty in the Army. From 1964 I worked as a Mechanical Engineer for the Trane Company for 27 years. Ithen worked as an Industrial Gas Engineer for Southwest Gas for 10 years. When Mary died in 2001, I retired.
I opened the first Office in Southern Arizona of any of the major mechanical equipment manufacturers in 1968, with a territory from Casa Grande South, East and West to the three borders. I had the same territory when working with Southwest Gas.
One of my favorite people to know and work with was Stuart Richard Palmer, who operated one of the most successful Consulting Mechanical Engineering firms in Tucson. While having lunch with Dick in the fall of 1975 at Paulo’s Restaurant on Speedway, Dick said to me that I was selfish. With great calm and respect I asked him why he believed that. Briefly, he said that I do not do enough for my community. I don’t reach out in a regular way to help others. I should do more to give back to my community and help make it a better place for everyone. This great Rotarian then proposed me for membership In Catalina Rotary. I Was inducted in December 1975.
Beginning in 1975 Mary had two bouts with Breast Cancer and a final battle with Ovarian Cancer. Those serious health issues coupled with my surprise Heart Attack in January 1986, and subsequent open-heart repair in 1995, took away a few opportunities for me to lead our club. I have served in most other Club positions of service in the 48 years I have been a member. I have been privileged to be in the company of talented and accomplished fellow Rotarians who work with great energy and without hesitation to make our community and the world beyond a better place. Much of my joy of membership is as a result of getting to know, on a personal level, our members. Our legacy in Catalina is that we have been creative in finding ways to successfully organize major fundraisers of all types, and to find brilliant ways to spread out our funds to varied and worthy organizations for their meaningful service to others. Dick Palmer was, of course, correct. I needed to be a Catalina Rotarian.
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