Bob Boardman

Bob Boardman was born George Robert Boardman Jr. in Fargo, North Dakota on September 30, 1946, the youngest of four children of George and Frances Boardman. The family moved to Sacramento, California when Bob was two, and Bob grew up in Sacramento and the Bay Area, graduating from Acalanes High School in Lafayette.

He attended San Francisco State University, where he continued the political activism he had pursued in high school, and graduated in 1969. During the next decade Bob continued his political activism, focusing on anti-war and labor organizing activities. He held various jobs including taxi driver, dock worker, and preschool teacher. He also worked on a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Counseling, which he received in 1980 from California State University, Hayward.

He worked for Alameda County as a social worker for several years before moving to Healdsburg, California in 1988 with his wife, Laura Beach, and three sons, Jesse, Ian and Robb. A fourth son, Anthony, was already living in Sonoma County with Bob’s former wife, Petra Boardman.

Bob’s years in Healdsburg were spent working with families through his job as a Child Protective Services worker for Sonoma County, working with youth as a soccer, baseball and basketball coach and Boy Scout leader, and teaching a class at Santa Rosa Junior College. During these years he also continued his political activism as a member of the Healdsburg Peace Project.

In 2001 Bob was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For nearly the next decade, he continued to remain healthy, active, and symptom-free except for minor effects of various treatments. Early in 2010 he found out the cancer had metastasized. He had already begun training for the 2010 AIDS Life Cycle ride, and he continued enthusiastically with his training in spite of the news. He completed the bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in June. He described the ride as the most intense journey he had ever experienced both physically and emotionally and considered it one of his proudest accomplishments.

Bob died on November 28, surrounded by his family in his Healdsburg home. He leaves his wife and sons and five grandchildren, Paxton, Liam, Gavin, Ela and Xavier, as well as a large extended family and many friends. A gathering of some 300 people celebrated his life in January 2012.