Memories of Robbie
    RD the "gentle giant" but so swift with a baseball and a basketball. Whenever RD threw a baseball you just knew it was going to burnnnnn--man, what an arm! No slouch at home plate either. When he got hold of a ball at the plate it would usually fly high. He wasn't only fun to watch but a giant threat to any opposing team in any sport he played in. I always felt pretty confident with winning when he was on the team. We played softball and basketball on the church league and with the recreation and parks.
    Now when RD, Roy Layne and Freight Train were under the hoops every team had a major problem. I'm sure Gordon Lin can tell you some great stories about that.
    Now RD was no different when it came to learning his parts with the band. We would get together, go over the parts and he had it. One day he called me over to his house to listen to a song he had picked out by the Kinks, "Lola."  He really liked that song and was so tickled he had picked out the parts himself. Early on he bought some beautiful Custom bass cabinets and amp. They were royal blue and roman pleated, beautiful stuff. He dropped by to chat one day and said he had sold his equipment and had taken a bad check from the person. He was so upset and down on himself.
    Again having that "gentle giant" around was great especially when we got jumped by a bunch of guys after a gig one night. RD was afraid of nothing or no one and would not let one of his friends get hurt or take a beating. He was right there. I'm sure he was the same way his last day here with us.  He just wouldn't stand to be bullied. He use to take us out riding and more times than not we would end up shooting over the Huguenot dips. RD had a nice Chrysler Cordova car. On the other hand the girls sure did like him because he so much fun to be around. I can still hear his laugh after all these years.
    I remember when he left the band pursuing a scholarship in baseball. Some of us use to miss school quite a lot but RD usually always went like he was suppose to. He had principles and stuck to them. Once again a very dark time in my young life was when RD was carried home for the last time.

-Marion Spain


     RD, he was just like a big Teddy Bear. He was big and strong but had a heart of gold. He was really a good friend, a terrific baseball player, and later a great bass player. I sure do miss the 2 of them (Freight and RD). They were both great friends and great guys.

-Steve Saunders


     I just want to say the only justification I have found for the taking of R.D. and Freight Train is they both belonged in Heaven and all its love and peace because they were so kind hearted and caring. So I believe this old world was just too foul. And I know they await with our Father for the grand reunion.

-Danny Roberts


    Although Robbie was a good bass player who learned how to play quite well in a short period of time and also had a great high range voice that was great for some of the songs we were doing at the time ("25 or 6 to 4" comes to mind).
    Robbie's first and main love was always baseball. I played ball with him at the elementary level and even back then he was a stand out. Robbie was a pitcher, a lefty with plenty of heat and at the plate if he got hold of it, it was gone. He played ball all through school and when he wasn't playing baseball he was playing softball. He just loved the game. Robbie was asked to try out for at least one major league team that I know of, that's just how good he was. It was quite touching to see him buried with his glove.
    I would like to tell one more short story about RD that I always think about when I think about him. It was the thing to do of the day to take your car over the Huguenot dips as fast as you could Well RD's parents had a Pontiac Bonneville. It was a heavy car, a real TANK!!! So one night we packed Robbie's car with guys, myself included, and RD put the pedal to the metal and we literally flew over the dips and I mean all four wheels leaving the ground. It scared us all to death but we laughed and had a big time. We talked about it for years.

-Chip Pulley


    A memory I have of R.D. involved a party that was held at Mike Forbes' house. Mike was a friend of mine and he had rented a house and was having a party. Well he fell asleep and as the party continued and people got loud, Mike woke up and was in a sleep/beer induced type of stupor. He came through the house, with the attitude that he was going to "clean house" and started punching everybody. He even punched me in the face and I was his best friend. But when he got to R.D. he stopped dead in his tracks and rethought what he was doing. He didn't try to touch R.D. My recollection of R.D. was that he stood about 6'3" and weighed about 230 pounds.

-Gary Morris

    After our nightly practice, we would go for a ride to a place named Christians on Robinson St. in Richmond to get beer. Then we would ride around and drink and talk. One night, we decided to get a street sign with "Woodstock" on it. We pulled up to the sign and Robbie put a bear hug on the entire sign, pole and all, and pulled it out of the ground. That's how we obtained the Woodstock sign.

-William Boisseau


    This is about the time RD sold his bass equipment. A bunch of us were together, where I don't remember exactly, but in busted RD and screamed "I got ripped off". He was boiling mad. A bad check had been given for his bass equipment and we all jumped into cars and went in several directions trying to locate the throat of the guy who did that so we could place RD's hands around it. We never did find the rat and RD was mad for a long time.

-Rick Teachey

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