YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Bob Boren

By Tim Wesley

Over the years, Bob Boren has strived to follow a basic roadmap for his life:  Help others.  Make the world a little bit better.  Do the right thing.

“Those have always been my goals,” he said.  “I might not always reach them, but I’m trying.  And I’m headed in the right direction.”

Now 75, Bob is willing to reflect a bit on his journey of service and faith, but always with humility and gratitude. 

As a young man fresh out of New Brighton High School in 1964, he didn’t know what path that journey would take until an uncle intervened.  John Namath had married Bob’s aunt, which meant that by marriage, Bob and John’s soon-to-be famous son, Joe, were cousins.  John worked at steelmaker Babcock & Wilcox, and he helped Bob get a job there, too. 

Bob worked at B&W for only a year, however, when fate intervened.  On Dec. 7, 1965 – Bob’s personal date of infamy – he was drafted into the artillery branch of the U.S. Army and sent to Washington State for training.  After several months, he was dispatched by troop ship to serve in the growing war in Vietnam.  He remembers the trip well, but not fondly.

“It took us 30 days to go across,” he said.  “We hit a typhoon going over and weren’t allowed to go out on deck.  I was seasick the entire time and lost about 10 pounds.  It was the only time I ever volunteered to clean the latrines so I could stay below.  I was so happy to get to Vietnam and be on solid ground.”

That happiness was short-lived.  After arriving in Vietnam in September 1966, he suffered a severe head wound in a harrowing Christmas Eve battle that he doesn’t remember.  On Christmas Day, the New Brighton chief of police delivered a note to his parents that said their son had been wounded.

“The lights went out for me,” he said.  “I woke up in January or February in a Quonset hut and wondered what in the world happened to me.  I had no clue.  I don’t remember the battle or anything, which is probably a blessing.  Apparently, we had come under attack and I was shot in the back of the head.  I do remember waking up at one point in the hospital and there was a Purple Heart by my bed.  They said some famous actress presented it to me, but I don’t know who it was.”

(His Purple Heart is framed and hangs on a wall at home, “to remind me of those who didn’t come home.”)

Bob’s road to recovery was long, as he spent time in hospitals in the Philippines and Japan, before eventually ending up in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland for about eight months.  When he arrived there by plane, Bob dropped to his knees and kissed the tarmac.

“I was just so happy to be back home, and alive,” he said.

In 1967, he was called into an Army general’s office and asked if he wanted to stay in the service.

“Sir,” he said, “I think I’d like to get out,” and he received an honorable discharge on Aug. 2 that year.

Bob returned to New Brighton to complete his recovery and in 1969 enrolled at Clarion State Teachers College to major in elementary education.  By that time, his cousin Joe was already a legend, having just led the New York Jets to an upset win over the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl.  Bob had met Joe a few times when they were younger, and he remembered visiting the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback in New York with family.

“We went to his apartment and to a Jets game,” he said.  “He took us to Bachelors III [a restaurant Namath co-owned at the time].  It was a thrill of my life.”

Back home again, Bob focused on his life’s work.  He had always enjoyed working with kids, so teaching was a natural vocation and gave him opportunities to serve in a variety of ways.  After graduating from Clarion in 1972, he accepted his first job as a fifth grade teacher in East Liverpool, Ohio, making $4,900 a year.  The following year, he returned closer to home to begin a 35-year career in the Blackhawk School District.

“I was in Heaven,” he said.

He taught fifth grade classes for 25 years, then served elementary-school-age students as a guidance counselor for another 10, before retiring in 2006.  The positions were different, but both required the same caring attitude and desire to help the students.

“I really enjoyed working with the kids,” he said.  “With teaching, some kids are naturally smart and you don’t have to worry much about them.  But others might have trouble for one reason or another, and you try to find out what it is and help them.

“With guidance, my door was always open and there would be all kinds of things going on.  Maybe there were family problems, or someone’s parent was just arrested.  Again, we talked about it and you would try to offer some help.”

Over the years, he often had visits from former students who expressed thanks for that help, and it validated Bob’s approach.

“It was very gratifying to see that,” he said.

Bob is also grateful that during his time at Clarion, he met the love of his life, Judi, where she was earning an undergraduate degree in library science and later a master’s in communications.  They will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year. 

While pursuing their careers they found ample time to raise two sons, Jeremy (41) and Jeffrey (35), who graduated from Seneca Valley High School.  Both sons are now married, and Jeremy and his wife are expected to deliver the family’s first grandchild in October.

Bob and Judi moved from Economy Borough to Cranberry Township in 1991 and started to attend Dutilh.  They found it to be a good fit, and have developed close relationships with many other members, including the Camerons and Cottons.

Jeremy and Jeffrey were both Eagle Scouts – Dutilh originally chartered a Boy Scouts troop – and Bob eagerly participated with them.  Together, they did service projects at Dutilh and in the Cranberry community.

Bob mentioned matter-of-factly about serving Dutilh in other capacities, whether it’s helping out on church clean-up days, delivering food to the Center for Hope in Ambridge, or manning the parking lot for the church flea market.  He credits his mother – “She was a wonderful person” – and his lifetime as a United Methodist for instilling a passion to serve.

“I’ve just always enjoyed trying to help others and trying to do the right thing,” he said.

That also includes his service with the Cranberry Area Lions Club, for which he is part of a team that collects, cleans and distributes eyeglasses in coordination with Mission Vision.  To date, he’s collected more than 36,000 eyeglasses, and he’ll add to that total on Sunday, the next collection day at the Cranberry Township Municipal Building.

“We’re helping a lot of people improve their vision,” he said.

For Bob, it’s just another stop on his journey of service.

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If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.