Veteran and longtime geologist loved sailing, gardening, bicycling, telling stories and Mark Twain
Robert “Bob” Schoen of Essex Junction, Vt., passed away on August 27, 2023, at the age of 92, due to complications from pneumonia. Bob was born in Manhattan to Agnes and William Schoen and spent his childhood riding his bicycle through the streets of New York City, playing baseball and playing with his dog, Jack. Bob attended many New York Yankees games with his father in the 1930s and once discovered that Babe Ruth was in the stands. Young Bob lined up for Babe Ruth’s autograph, but a large man stepped in front of him, cutting him off. Babe Ruth reached around that man to take the program from Bob, making a point of signing his first. Bob always treasured that memory and the lesson in integrity. At age 16 he joined the U.S. Army National Guard, where he became trained as a medic because he “wasn’t afraid of blood.” He also received “Expert” for his shooting marksmanship. Bob’s advanced education began at City College in New York for his undergraduate degree. He took his first geology class at City, earning a grade of C-, which was the highest grade in the class. To his way of thinking, “The best grade in the class deserved an A,” but more importantly, "Geology made sense." Bob moved to the University of Wyoming in Laramie for his postgraduate work. It was here that he met his wife of 66 years, Jean Rogers Schoen. Drafted into the U.S. Army at the end of the Korean War, Bob spent the next two years in Okinawa, Japan. Once stateside, he and Jean wed and moved to a trailer in the Southwest "because you can see the geology in all of the exposed rock." He studied the nation’s uranium mines in Moab, Utah. Using the veterans’ benefit of the G.I. Bill, Bob and Jean moved back east to Boston, Mass., to further his education. They made a quick stop in Wisconsin for the birth of their first child. Bob received his PhD in geology from Harvard University. Packing up the family car once again, Bob moved his growing young family, which now included another daughter and a kitten, to California, where he began his career as a geologist in the Water Resources Division for the U.S. Geological Survey. Soon another daughter and son joined the family, necessitating the purchase of his first home in Cupertino,…
Veteran and longtime geologist loved sailing, gardening, bicycling, telling stories and Mark Twain
Robert “Bob” Schoen of Essex Junction, Vt., passed away on August 27, 2023, at the age of 92, due to complications from pneumonia. Bob was born in Manhattan to Agnes and William Schoen and spent his childhood riding his bicycle through the streets of New York City, playing baseball and playing with his dog, Jack. Bob attended many New York Yankees games with his father in the 1930s and once discovered that Babe Ruth was in the stands. Young Bob lined up for Babe Ruth’s autograph, but a large man stepped in front of him, cutting him off. Babe Ruth reached around that man to take the program from Bob, making a point of signing his first. Bob always treasured that memory and the lesson in integrity. At age 16 he joined the U.S. Army National Guard, where he became trained as a medic because he “wasn’t afraid of blood.” He also received “Expert” for his shooting marksmanship. Bob’s advanced education began at City College in New York for his undergraduate degree. He took his first geology class at City, earning a grade of C-, which was the highest grade in the class. To his way of thinking, “The best grade in the class deserved an A,” but more importantly, "Geology made sense." Bob moved to the University of Wyoming in Laramie for his postgraduate work. It was here that he met his wife of 66 years, Jean Rogers Schoen. Drafted into the U.S. Army at the end of the Korean War, Bob spent the next two years in Okinawa, Japan. Once stateside, he and Jean wed and moved to a trailer in the Southwest "because you can see the geology in all of the exposed rock." He studied the nation’s uranium mines in Moab, Utah. Using the veterans’ benefit of the G.I. Bill, Bob and Jean moved back east to Boston, Mass., to further his education. They made a quick stop in Wisconsin for the birth of their first child. Bob received his PhD in geology from Harvard University. Packing up the family car once again, Bob moved his growing young family, which now included another daughter and a kitten, to California, where he began his career as a geologist in the Water Resources Division for the U.S. Geological Survey. Soon another daughter and son joined the family, necessitating the purchase of his first home in Cupertino,…
