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Robert Leland Tillman, 86, passed away Monday, February 19, 2007. He was born March 30, 1920 in Forestburg (Montague County), TX to Elbert and Ollie May Tillman. As one of nine children, Bob grew up on a dust bowl family farm near Wheeler, TX during the Great Depression. In 1937, he graduated from Wheeler High School and enrolled at West Texas A&M University on a football scholarship. As the scholarship carried no cash component, and no jobs were available, Bob dropped out midway through the first term, returning to Wheeler to work in home construction. After a particularly hot summer day re-roofing a house, he joined the Army Air Corps at age 20. Bob married Claudia Bernice Stinson on November 9, 1941 in Las Vegas, NV while serving as Master Sergeant at the Army Air Corps maintenance depot at Las Vegas Army Air Field now Nellis AFB. As WWII advanced, Bob served in the 9th Bomb Group, based on Tinian in the South Pacific. The crew chief on a B-29, Bob flew 30+ missions over Japan and received the Distingished Flying Cross and 2 Air Medals for his service in the Pacific Theater. After WWII, Bob worked for Western Electric, based in Phoenix, installing first generation automatic switching telephone central offices throughout the southwest. In 1952 he relocated his family to Gallup, NM, joining the Bureau of Indian Affairs Communications group that operated the telephone system for the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni reservations. Over a period of 5 years, he rose to head that unit and led a large-scale modernization and expansion of telephony for those reservations over the ensuing 2 decades. In 1968 the BIA sold this service to Great SW Telephone Corp. where Bob continued in his role with the reservation telephone systems and assumed leadership for additional service in central and southern Texas. During this period, Bob was active in the Rocky Mountain Telephone Association, where he served as President and Director over several years. In 1978, Bob and Claudia retired to Albuquerque, NM, where they have led an active retirement life including RVing the western United States, flying a private aircraft, golfing, and many friendships. To the end, Bob was a man who drew people to him with his sense of humor, his ability to produce a down-home Texas aphorism for every occasion, and a sincere love for his fellow man. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Claudia; son, Robert L. Tillman Jr. and wife, Lynn; daughter, Shaunna and husband, Joe Webb; three grandchildren, Katie Tillman Buck, Zachary, and Maggie Tillman.
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