Robert Russell Krones passed on into the universe on March 19, 2012, at the age of 85.

He did so much in his life it is hard to condense it all.

He was born in Washington state but lived in wild and woolly Alaska as a child. He loved to gaze at the stars from his backyard and watch the Northern Lights put on its natural light show.

He served in the Army during World War II.

He was living in Berkeley in the 1950s when he met his first wife Janice Beals. He had two daughters, Lisa Krones-Whalen (Bob) and Susan Krones-Williams (Michael) who adored him.

He later married Irene Schmitt who brought four sons into the family, Mike Palmer (Carole), Patrick Palmer (Thien-huong), Mark Palmer and Stephan Polos (Lucy).  

Robert was a computer engineer when computers were so big they could barely fit in one room much less the palm of your hand.  

He worked at U.C. Berkeley in the language lab studying the mechanics of speech by putting a small camera down peoples’ throats to take pictures of the vocal chords and how they moved when different words were spoken.  

Later this work would come in handy while working for NASA in developing a pilot voice recognition computer program.  

He had a great love for music and was the sound engineer for many folk concerts in the Bay Area for singers such as Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Odetta and Joan Baez to name just a few.  

He also had a lifelong passion for photography and always had a camera in his hand. He took amazing photos of the world around him.

He was especially proud of his photo of Pete Seeger in concert that he took in the 1960s and was used 40 years later as the cover for the film “The Power of Song,” a biography about Seeger.

He was involved from the beginning with radio station KPFA in Berkeley and therefore was very pleased to get involved with KPFZ 88.1 FM when he moved to Lake County two years ago.  

Robert liked to tell the story about the first live reading of “Beat Poet” Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” on KPFA radio.

Ginsberg asked Bob what he should do about saying the swear words in the poem on the radio. Bob told him just to slur those words and no one would know the difference and it worked.  

Robert loved Lake County and the people he met here and was always going places with his caregiver Ina Welsh, who spoiled him.

He will be missed by all who knew him for his kindness and his sense of humor.

He is survived by his two daughters; his four stepsons; and his 11 grandchildren, Rachel Whalen, Alexis Palmer, Shane Palmer, Thien-nga Palmer-Ordaz, Stephanie Polos-Ontiveros, Elyse Polos-Galetto, Stephen Polos II, Sammy Polos, Thalia Polos, Jasmine Palmer and Morgan Palmer.

At the end of his life Hospice helped him tremendously with his transition from this world to the next so in lieu of flowers please donate in his name to Lake County Hospice, 1717 S. Main St. Lakeport, CA 95453.