Obituary of Bob Wolbaum

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It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Bob Wolbaum on Friday, October 29, 2021. Bob was predeceased by his parents, Peter and Rose Wolbaum; his brothers, Alfred and Ronald Wolbaum; and sister Delores Mair. He is survived by his loving wife of 49 years, Dianne Wolbaum; his children, Brad (Rachel) Wolbaum and daughter Bea; Heather Rodriguez and son Zion-Che and step-son Ian; Corin (Myles) Yasinski and daughters Regan Pinel, Sophia and Heidi; and Scott (Carla Weitzel) Wolbaum; brother Larry Wolbaum; sister Rosanne (Kevin) Pellerin; sisters-in-law Joyce Wolbaum, Linda Wolbaum and Gail Wolbaum; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and friends.

Bob was born and raised in Regina, SK. He met the love of his life, Dianne, in 1969. Bob always told her it was love at first sight! They got married in 1972 and in the years following they raised four kind, caring and loving children. He was such an awesome dad to his children and spent hours playing all different sports and games with them. Bob coached many of their hockey, baseball and softball teams and loved how they would improve over the years. Playing sports was such an important part of his life. He started playing hockey at a very young age and would walk across the street to play at the rink every day he could. He started out as a goalie even before goalies wore face masks on their helmets and continued on to play almost every position on the ice right up until he was almost 69 years old! He had played tennis throughout his life from the mid 90’s up until a few weeks ago. He loved the game and was so proud of himself that he could still beat his 46 year old son.

From a very young age he knew the importance of earning a living and how to “wheel a deal”. It all started when he became a paper boy and had routes so big that he ended up hiring other kids to work for him. As he got older he started working in a bowling alley and in turn became a great bowler. Being a salesman was no giant leap for him, he started out working for an insurance company and had many sales jobs in the years following. Everyone would always say “Bob could sell ice to an Eskimo” and they weren’t wrong. He retired when he was 65 while he was working as a forklift safety instructor. This was by far his favourite job and took so much pride in doing it.

Bob and Dianne were best friends and spent all their time together. Over the years they enjoyed travelling to many places. Starting in 1972 they went to Disneyland, The Bahamas, Hawaii, Dominican, The Myan Riveria, Mazatlan, Las Vegas, sports tournaments, many roads trips to the States and Canada and of course spending the summer at the lake. For almost 40 years he looked forward all winter long to go to Lake Diefenbaker. They started out by staying at his close friends’ cabin and in 1995 he and Dianne got their own camping site. Bob spent every weekend out at the lake fishing, hanging out with family and enjoying evening fires. He started out with a small fishing boat then over the years and many boats later he decided to get a pontoon boat which he loved! He was so happy fishing in the enclosed boat where he was out of the rain and sun. Anyone who went out to the lake with him knew they would be up early and on the boat fishing in the mornings. He would spend hours taking everyone to the little beaches all over the lake that he had so cleverly named.

Bob had so many friends and everyone who knew him loved him. He treated everyone the same and with kindness. If you ever needed something done Bob always knew who to call. He enjoyed so many moments with all his friends and family just visiting, having get-togethers and definitely karaoke which was one of his favourite things to do. He could sing any Elvis song in the book by memory and even if he didn’t know all the words he was quick on his feet to make some up.

Bob’s joy in life was definitely his grandchildren. He always loved taking them for walks and to the park. He would join them in skating, swimming, badminton and many other things. He liked watching the sports and recitals they were in and always bragged about how good they were at everything. He was such a fun grandpa and took so much pride in all of his grandchildren. Bob found such fun in these moments with the grandkids because he really always was a kid at heart.

Bob was an awesome husband, dad, grandpa and friend. He will forever be remembered by all those who loved him.

Celebration of Bob's Life will be held at Speers Funeral Chapel, 2136 College Avenue, Regina, SK on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. Flowers gratefully declined. To view a livestream of the service please click on the link above on the day of the service.