Lasting Memories
Robert Ross Staley
Dec. 6, 1921-April 6, 2012
Cupertino, California
Robert Ross Staley died April 6, 2102. Born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1921, he was a graduate of Cal Tech with Masters Degrees from Cal Tech, Stanford and Harvard. He served in the Navy during WWII and he worked for over 35 years as a technical writer and editor in the aeronautics industry.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Jane Dugan Staley; and he is survived by his three children, Paul, Ellen (Lussier) and David; and eight grandchildren. He loved, not necessarily in this order, Stanford football, the Democratic Party, the California coast, the music of Lester Young and a good martini.
May 18, 2012
Ross and I had several connections in the 1960's. We both worked at Philco-Ford in Palo Alto and we were elected to the California Democratic Council in 1965 as directors of the CDC from adjacent congressional districts. It was a time of turmoil centered on the Vietnam War. Even though Ross and I were on opposite sides of that issue, we were united that the president of the CDC, Si Cassady, was leading a destructive campaign against President Lyndon Johnson. Amusingly, we were accused, along with 2 other directors who worked for Philco Ford in Southern California, as being defense establishment conspirators. (Amusing, because at the time, I was a major supporter for an anti-war congressional candidate.) I haven't had contact with Ross for many decades, but I have fond memories of that period we spent working together.