Obituary for Robert P. "Bob" Guidinger
Born on October 7, 1957, in Milwaukee, WI to Marie (nee Dyal) and Robert A. Guidinger, Robert P. (“Bob” or “Bob Jr.”), was the third oldest of a large Catholic family, with five sisters and two brothers.
Bob’s greatest joy was his family. And given that his greatest love was sailing, he had the best of all worlds when he sailed with his family! He was a fierce competitor with many accolades over the years.
At a very young age, he was taught the value of honest work and the importance of saving money. His hard-earned money made on his paper route, working at his dad’s liquor store and parking cars for Elsie’s (then Chappie’s) and Michael’s House of Prime restaurant customers was put to good use when he bought his first sailboat for a little less than $5k (with a little help from his dad). The boat was a wooden 1960 Melges E boat. He was only 16, did not grow up in a sailing family and had to figure most of it out by himself. He restored the boat in a storage area that his dad had built adjacent to Guidinger’s Pewaukee Lake Liquor store where the entire family worked.
He took off and threw away all the old fittings (too rusted) and disassembled the entire boat. He meticulously sanded each board. He also ended up restoring an old, rusted trailer that needed to be rebuilt and learned how to replace the ball bearings. Being resourceful, he picked the brains of both Pewaukee Yacht Club sailors as well as non-sailors that frequented the liquor store for all his ‘projects’. At a boat show he even got a few tips from Buddy Melges. He was strong and intelligent and treated each project as a labor of love. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for boating.
A few years later he wiped out his savings again and bought a brand-new fiberglass E scow. That was the start of his “Twelve-Pack” years of sailing V-12 with his family and friends. He went on to sail many different classes and types of boats, including ice boats.
In 1988, Bob and his younger brother Dan made a run at qualifying for the Olympics -- sailing Finns. Unlike most other Olympic sailors training full-time and receiving financial help from sponsors, Bob and Dan trained part-time, primarily on Pewaukee Lake and worked full-time to support themselves. The tagline in the paper read … “Bob and Dan Guidinger, two Pewaukee sailors, are trying to get to the Summer Olympics the old-fashioned way”! He finished a respectable 18th out of 43 boats at the trials.
Bob’s involvement with the Pewaukee Yacht Club dates to 1970. He loved the club and had hoped he could attend the 125th anniversary celebration. He served as Commodore for two years in 2011 & 2012. So many great memories. He felt blessed to work with an awesome Board of Directors by his side. They successfully accomplished a lot together under his leadership, including:
• Hosting a program, in conjunction with the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, honoring Veterans that included a USO show featuring PYC members, a live auction, a 21 Gun salute, and a vintage aircraft flyover on July 9, 2011.
• Developing a Safety Committee.
• Continuing wine tasting events.
• PYC being named Yacht Club of the year in 2012 by ILYA.
• PYC being named the US Sailing Club of the year.
• PYC hosting the Champion of Champions Regatta in C Scows. This brought 20 of the top one design sailors to Pewaukee.
• Rick Roy being awarded the Harold E. Koch Cannon award in 2012
• Featuring an original painting by Loie Sawyer Garrison, the 2011 Henke Lifetime Achievement award winner, on the cover of the 2012 PYC Annual.
• Finalizing the purchase of the bowling alley property (he credits Greg Reimer the former commodore for doing the heavy lifting).
• Building a permanent launch ramp pier.
• Hosting thirteen regattas his final year.
• Upgrading the grill area and building a new walk-in cooler in a free-standing shed.
Bob’s inspiration for the new walk-in cooler was from his dad’s Liquor Store. The Yacht club frequently ‘borrowed’ cooler space for the food served at the parties and regattas hosted at the club. Bob decided it was time to design and build a shed with a large cooler on the property. Ten years later the cooler is still heavily utilized.
Bob attended University of Madison, majoring in Business and was a fraternity brother at Theta Chi. His love of tinkering with boats continued after college and he joined the Harken/Vanguard crew. He held several different positions. During this time, he also helped Donny Nelson, one of his best friends, build a mold using his younger brother Dan’s Cub boat to start making Cub boats.
One of his North Sail friends decided to move east and train for the Olympics in the luge event. He enlisted Bob’s fiberglass skills to make him a luge. He made about 10 of them in the shed behind the liquor store. He is honored to have a couple of the ones he made in museums at Lake Placid and Salt Lake City.
It not surprising that when Bob and his best friend and “Love of his Life” – Anne-Marie Allen decided to open a bar that they named it Schooner. They provided a great environment to hang and meet new friends. Bob and Anne Marie were instrumental in numerous introductions that led to marriages. They formed and sponsored several successful teams competing at golf, softball, pool, and bowling. His sense of community and family was recognized by all that came into partake a beverage (or two)!
At the age of 63, in April 2021, Bob was diagnosed with ALS. He fought an admirable battle against ALS – an incurable disease. His grit, bravery, positive attitude, and overall acceptance of the disease was beyond admirable. While ALS was ravaging his body, it thankfully did not dampen his quick wit and wicked sense of humor. He lived the last year surrounded by family and incredible friends, sharing laughs, and reminiscing about his sailing adventures and boyhood & adulthood shenanigans. He was blessed to enjoy several family trips this past year including the annual family trip to his oldest sister Nancy’s Maiden Lake, WI place. With a view of Pewaukee Lake as his backdrop, he breathed his final breath on March 8, 2022.
We are eternally grateful for all the prayers, love and support provided to Bob and our family especially over the last few years. The kindness and thoughts provided via texts, emails, Facebook likes/comments, memories, and pictures shared lifted his/our spirits and warmed our hearts.
He was preceded in death by his mother Marie (nee Dyal), father Robert A., brother Peter (who died shortly after his birth), youngest sister Sara Tesch and nephew Dan Delorme. Bob is survived by his sisters Nancy (John) DeLorme, Carol (Steve) McCulloch, Rose (Joseph) Nelson, Peggy (Mike) Moreno, brother Dan (Molly), and brother-in-law Eric Tesch. Also survived by 15 nieces and nephews: David, Jeff (Amanda), Mike DeLorme; Bryan (Joanna) & Katie (Steve) McCulloch/Stimek; Ian, Will & Sydney Nelson; Marisa & Kristen Moreno; Lucy & Josie Guidinger; and Elijah, Natalie & Piper Tesch; with 5 great-nieces/nephews: Riley Bakemeyer; Claire & Nathan DeLorme; and Tyler & Jason McCulloch.
A visitation will be held on Sunday, March 13, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Schramka Funeral Home, 13220 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield, followed by a “Time of Sharing” at 3:00 pm. Following the service Bob would love for all of us to raise a glass at the Sports Dock in Pewaukee and continue to share stories and memories together.
A recording of the service is available on the Schramka Facebook page:
Bob’s greatest joy was his family. And given that his greatest love was sailing, he had the best of all worlds when he sailed with his family! He was a fierce competitor with many accolades over the years.
At a very young age, he was taught the value of honest work and the importance of saving money. His hard-earned money made on his paper route, working at his dad’s liquor store and parking cars for Elsie’s (then Chappie’s) and Michael’s House of Prime restaurant customers was put to good use when he bought his first sailboat for a little less than $5k (with a little help from his dad). The boat was a wooden 1960 Melges E boat. He was only 16, did not grow up in a sailing family and had to figure most of it out by himself. He restored the boat in a storage area that his dad had built adjacent to Guidinger’s Pewaukee Lake Liquor store where the entire family worked.
He took off and threw away all the old fittings (too rusted) and disassembled the entire boat. He meticulously sanded each board. He also ended up restoring an old, rusted trailer that needed to be rebuilt and learned how to replace the ball bearings. Being resourceful, he picked the brains of both Pewaukee Yacht Club sailors as well as non-sailors that frequented the liquor store for all his ‘projects’. At a boat show he even got a few tips from Buddy Melges. He was strong and intelligent and treated each project as a labor of love. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for boating.
A few years later he wiped out his savings again and bought a brand-new fiberglass E scow. That was the start of his “Twelve-Pack” years of sailing V-12 with his family and friends. He went on to sail many different classes and types of boats, including ice boats.
In 1988, Bob and his younger brother Dan made a run at qualifying for the Olympics -- sailing Finns. Unlike most other Olympic sailors training full-time and receiving financial help from sponsors, Bob and Dan trained part-time, primarily on Pewaukee Lake and worked full-time to support themselves. The tagline in the paper read … “Bob and Dan Guidinger, two Pewaukee sailors, are trying to get to the Summer Olympics the old-fashioned way”! He finished a respectable 18th out of 43 boats at the trials.
Bob’s involvement with the Pewaukee Yacht Club dates to 1970. He loved the club and had hoped he could attend the 125th anniversary celebration. He served as Commodore for two years in 2011 & 2012. So many great memories. He felt blessed to work with an awesome Board of Directors by his side. They successfully accomplished a lot together under his leadership, including:
• Hosting a program, in conjunction with the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, honoring Veterans that included a USO show featuring PYC members, a live auction, a 21 Gun salute, and a vintage aircraft flyover on July 9, 2011.
• Developing a Safety Committee.
• Continuing wine tasting events.
• PYC being named Yacht Club of the year in 2012 by ILYA.
• PYC being named the US Sailing Club of the year.
• PYC hosting the Champion of Champions Regatta in C Scows. This brought 20 of the top one design sailors to Pewaukee.
• Rick Roy being awarded the Harold E. Koch Cannon award in 2012
• Featuring an original painting by Loie Sawyer Garrison, the 2011 Henke Lifetime Achievement award winner, on the cover of the 2012 PYC Annual.
• Finalizing the purchase of the bowling alley property (he credits Greg Reimer the former commodore for doing the heavy lifting).
• Building a permanent launch ramp pier.
• Hosting thirteen regattas his final year.
• Upgrading the grill area and building a new walk-in cooler in a free-standing shed.
Bob’s inspiration for the new walk-in cooler was from his dad’s Liquor Store. The Yacht club frequently ‘borrowed’ cooler space for the food served at the parties and regattas hosted at the club. Bob decided it was time to design and build a shed with a large cooler on the property. Ten years later the cooler is still heavily utilized.
Bob attended University of Madison, majoring in Business and was a fraternity brother at Theta Chi. His love of tinkering with boats continued after college and he joined the Harken/Vanguard crew. He held several different positions. During this time, he also helped Donny Nelson, one of his best friends, build a mold using his younger brother Dan’s Cub boat to start making Cub boats.
One of his North Sail friends decided to move east and train for the Olympics in the luge event. He enlisted Bob’s fiberglass skills to make him a luge. He made about 10 of them in the shed behind the liquor store. He is honored to have a couple of the ones he made in museums at Lake Placid and Salt Lake City.
It not surprising that when Bob and his best friend and “Love of his Life” – Anne-Marie Allen decided to open a bar that they named it Schooner. They provided a great environment to hang and meet new friends. Bob and Anne Marie were instrumental in numerous introductions that led to marriages. They formed and sponsored several successful teams competing at golf, softball, pool, and bowling. His sense of community and family was recognized by all that came into partake a beverage (or two)!
At the age of 63, in April 2021, Bob was diagnosed with ALS. He fought an admirable battle against ALS – an incurable disease. His grit, bravery, positive attitude, and overall acceptance of the disease was beyond admirable. While ALS was ravaging his body, it thankfully did not dampen his quick wit and wicked sense of humor. He lived the last year surrounded by family and incredible friends, sharing laughs, and reminiscing about his sailing adventures and boyhood & adulthood shenanigans. He was blessed to enjoy several family trips this past year including the annual family trip to his oldest sister Nancy’s Maiden Lake, WI place. With a view of Pewaukee Lake as his backdrop, he breathed his final breath on March 8, 2022.
We are eternally grateful for all the prayers, love and support provided to Bob and our family especially over the last few years. The kindness and thoughts provided via texts, emails, Facebook likes/comments, memories, and pictures shared lifted his/our spirits and warmed our hearts.
He was preceded in death by his mother Marie (nee Dyal), father Robert A., brother Peter (who died shortly after his birth), youngest sister Sara Tesch and nephew Dan Delorme. Bob is survived by his sisters Nancy (John) DeLorme, Carol (Steve) McCulloch, Rose (Joseph) Nelson, Peggy (Mike) Moreno, brother Dan (Molly), and brother-in-law Eric Tesch. Also survived by 15 nieces and nephews: David, Jeff (Amanda), Mike DeLorme; Bryan (Joanna) & Katie (Steve) McCulloch/Stimek; Ian, Will & Sydney Nelson; Marisa & Kristen Moreno; Lucy & Josie Guidinger; and Elijah, Natalie & Piper Tesch; with 5 great-nieces/nephews: Riley Bakemeyer; Claire & Nathan DeLorme; and Tyler & Jason McCulloch.
A visitation will be held on Sunday, March 13, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Schramka Funeral Home, 13220 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield, followed by a “Time of Sharing” at 3:00 pm. Following the service Bob would love for all of us to raise a glass at the Sports Dock in Pewaukee and continue to share stories and memories together.
A recording of the service is available on the Schramka Facebook page: