Bob Guberud

life story

Love, Laughter and Lyrics

Bob and Barb at their desert home south of Tucson

Bob's Highlights

Milliard Robert was born on September 26, 1926 in Jamestown, North Dakota to Milliard and Ragna Elise Guberud. As a young boy, he had many adventures in and around Jamestown, including hunting bountiful pheasant with his Dad and younger brother Stan. Saving his nickels or even occasionally sneaking in the back door, he loved going to the movies and watching westerns, war movies, Flash Gordon, and anything with Erol Flynn. Starting around 8 yrs old, he spent his summers helping out at the Guberud farm (est. 1854) in Spring Grove, MN with his grandmother and uncles while his brother Stan spent his summers helping out at the Solberg family farm in Elk Mound, WI. He told many a tale of his hard work on the farm, including of how when he milked the cows by hand, the barn cats would line up for a squirt in the face.

Bob grew up around music. His Dad played the accordion for many dances in the Jamestown area and even toured for a short while with a young Lawrence Welk band. Bob played the violin for a bit as a boy, but his passion was singing, memorizing lyrics, and playing beautiful chord progressions. His brother Stan also loved music, especially Jazz, something they both would share over their lives. Bob's Dad died when Bob was only 16 yrs old, and from then on he always hated funerals or talking about death.

He graduated from Jamestown Highschool in 1944, after watching many of his classmates head off to fight WWII. Due to a rubella illness as a baby, Bob had an ear issue that kept him from serving in the war. It wasn't until he was in his 40s that medical science advanced enough to fix his right eardrum.

After highschool, with some help from his aunt, Bob attended the University of MN and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He worked many odd jobs at the U to pay his way, was a member of Chi Phi fraternity and met the love of his life, Barb. He sang for a band at Coffman Union and sang Sinatra songs in Barb's ear on many a date. How could she resist!

In 1948, Bob proposed to Barb under a tall oak tree, just outside a formal dance organized by either her Alpha Delta Pi sorority or Bob's Chi Phi fraternity, at the Interlachen Country Club. Her parents insisted she finish her degree, and so she and Bob waited two long years before getting married. During this time, Bob worked for Texas Instruments and an oil company which led him to learn a gambling card game called "Ramp". Ramp is a cross between bridge and poker, where not taking a trick can clean out your winnings quickly. Eventually, all his kids and grandkids would learn to play it with pennies and nickels around the dining table.

He and Barb married on June 24, 1950, in the Barron Methodist Church. The two of them traveled to LaCrosse and then Philadelphia, where Bob worked as an electrical engineer. They returned to the midwest and settled in the Evanston and then Milwaukee area. In 1955 their first child, Robert was born. From 1955 to 1963, he and Mom had 5 kids (Bob, Mary, Jim, Tom and Jane). They moved from the Milwaukee area to Edina, MN in the summer of 1964, with all 5 kids under the age of 9 and a dog! The house they would live in for 34 years in Edina was just a skip from the country club where he and Barb were engaged. Bob worked for several companies, but went on to build his own management & consulting business starting in the early 1970s. His daughter Mary joined him in the 80s, and eventually took on the business with her husband Dave to become what is now called Focus Performance Systems. Bob was tickled when he got called out of retirement to teach a workshop in Mexico, where he got to practice his Spanish! And he enjoyed being called "Emeritus Chairman of the Bored".

Bob always had a joke to tell, and wrote songs and lyrics for many special occasions. He loved learning a new instrument and took lessons on the guitar, banjo, harp, and concertina. He spent hours mastering an electric keyboard he purchased when he was cutting back towards retirement. He composed, sang, arranged on the keyboard, and recorded "ump-teen" songs using a 6 track reel-to-reel tape recorder that was state of the art home recording at the time. These songs were made in to several CDs, which many of his friends and family received over the years. He loved taking us on trips, and vacations were always with his family, including one whirlwind trip to Europe with all 7 of us and his Mom, Ragna. Seeing her joy at visiting the site of her ancestors in Norway was something he cherished.

Bob loved his grandsons, Dane and Cody, and loved having them spend a few weeks each summer at their Blue Lake cabin, fishing, swimming and enjoying the lake as all his kids had done.

Bob and Barb celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary in June of 2021, and Bob never stopped singing love songs to Barb until her last breaths.

A small memorial service will be held in Spring Grove, MN at a future date.