Robert Link Obituary

April 2, 1931 - January 14, 2008. Robert N. Link, Bob Link, 76, "slipped the surly bonds of earth" on January 14, 2008. Born April 2, 1931 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he was educated at Runnymeade High School, Toronto, Canada, and subsequently graduating in geology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He worked as an oil rigger in Alberta, Canada while in college and later as a petroleum geologist in exploration for the Carter Oil Company in Wyoming. Before becoming an aviator in the United States Marine Corps, he graduated from Naval Flight School in Pensacola, Florida. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps as a Major, but as he said "once a Marine always a Marine." While serving as a reservist in the Marine Corps, he entered the real estate field in Boulder, first as a real estate broker, then mortgage broker, partner in Lashley Persons Real Estate Company, mortgage lender, and finally a senior real estate instructor and co-owner of Jones Real Estate College. His greatest passion was teaching Marine recruits to disassemble and the reassemble the M-16 rifle and teaching students in the real estate industry. Many students would still question him for help in his later years. Finally, he was also the Southern Region instructor for the Continuing Education Division of the University of Colorado. He served as a Director of the Air Academy Federal Credit Union Board of Directors, member of Pikes Peak Sertoma and Gleneagle Sertoma, and member of the Eisenhower Men's Golf Association. In his retirement years, he especially enjoyed being a Monitor/Marshal at Gleneagle, Woodmoor, King's Deer, and Eisenhower Golf Courses. After having fought a stunning battle with Multiple Sclerosis and cancers, "while with a silent lifting mind" he said, "I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, and now I will put out my hand and touch the face of God." Predeceased by his father Dr. Theodore A. Link, a renowned Western Canada petroleum geologist, his mother Katherine Ford Link, brothers Thomas Link (pilot killed in World War II who had the most influence on his life) and Theodore Link also a petroleum geologist, he is survived by his wife the former Louise Lowry Smith, his sister Elisabeth Jane Lehman, and many nieces and nephew. But he was most proud of his three sons Robert N. Link, Jr., Ted Link, and Zachary Link who also successfully work in the real estate industry and three grandchildren. He was a teacher's teacher and the absence of his dynamic presence will echo in our lives forever. In lieu of flowers contibutions may be made to: KCME, 1921 N Weber, Colorado Springs, 80907 Multiple Sclerosis Society, 12 N. Meade, Colorado Springs, 80909 Pikes Peak Hospice, 25 E. Pikes Peak, #600, Colorado Springs, 80907 Credit to John Gillespie Magee, Jr., "High Flight" SEMPER FI Services will be 11:00 am Saturday January 19, 2008 at Grace & St. Stephen's Church, 601 N. Tejon, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.