Bob Arnold always said, “The goal in life is to die young, as old as possible.” By many accounts, he accomplished an admirable balance between youth and age.
He was an old soul who grew into an honorable man with a playful spirit that couldn’t help putting a smile on your face.
Bobby Gene Arnold was born on June 5, 1927 and died March 11 at age 89.
In his father’s eulogy, Kerry Arnold said, “The last 40 years of his life, he and I were more like brothers than father and son.” At his wedding, his father was his best man. “He was the best man I ever knew … I can only hope that I am half the man he was.”
Bob and his son had a routine. Every time Kerry called his dad, day or night, he’d ask, “Did I wake you up?” His father always replied, “No. I had to get up to answer the phone anyway.”
He looked on the bright side of every situation, not an easy feat for anyone who grew up during the Great Depression. Bob’s family didn’t have much money growing up, and they had to move 12 times in the first 12 years he was alive. “When the rent came due, they’d have to move in the middle of the night,” Kerry said. “Dad didn’t know anybody moved during the day.”
His friend and minister, Roy Roberson, said, “For many people, that would’ve been traumatic, and perhaps on some level it was for Bob, but it seems to me he just rolled with it.”
His resilience and humor stuck out to many who crossed his path. “You know one of Bob’s most notable characteristics was his sense of humor,” Roberson, said. “He wasn’t just funny, he was witty and quick with his jokes and comebacks. I wish I had a dollar for every time Bob had made me laugh.”
Like many who signed up for the armed services during World War II, Arnold lied about his age to get into the Navy when he was 17. He served his country on a destroyer before returning home, where he resumed his work in the auto parts industry.
When his grandson, Collins, was in middle school, he wrote an essay about his grandfather that won first place and a spot in the National Archives. Collin’s youthful perspective provides valuable insight on how Arnold’s determination in his auto parts business always made ends meet.
Bob told his grandson that he opened his store, Southern Auto Parts, in 1964 with “a lot of faith” and “very little money.” He had money to rent a small office space, but not enough to stock his store with parts.
Just in case a customer dropped by, he saved the box of every part he sold to display on his shelves. “My grandfather told me that somebody told him once that the way he ran Southern Auto Parts was like somebody trying to run a restaurant with no food,” Collins wrote. But Arnold made it work.
Karol Brown, Bob’s daughter, said her father always wanted to leave his family with “memories, not money.” He put importance on the experiences and memories of family vacations over what they cost. “We visited 48 states,” Brown said. “Went on four or five different cruises. Big vacations.”
Vacations and baseball were two pastimes Bob enjoyed sharing with his family. When he was young, he used to watch through the fence of Ponce de Leon Park and could smell the hot dogs. He vowed that if he ever could afford to attend a baseball game, he would buy a hot dog every time.
Bob made sure he had Atlanta Braves season tickets when they first started in 1966, and he bought a hot dog every time he went to the game. “We were there for Hank Aaron’s 715th home run,” Brown said. “I think we had about 20 people, even though we had only four season tickets. He had gone and bought tickets for the entire family.”
With generosity, a tender heart and an infectious happiness, Bob fulfilled his life philosophy everyday: “I can’t change the world, but I can change your day.”
Arnold Bob is survived by his sons and daughters-in-law, Kerry and Cindy Arnold, and Kevin and Terri Arnold, and his daughter and son-in-law, Karol and Rusty Brown, and a several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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