Bob was born in Sayre, Pennsylvania on 5 March 1939 to Walter Dech Yale and Mary Williams Yale.  He attended school in Sayre and Athens and graduated from Athens High School in 1957, shortly thereafter he entered the Naval Service where he proudly served for 20 years retiring as a Chief Petty Officer.  He remained with the intelligence community for 17 additional years as a Field Intelligence Officer serving both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.  His work during these 37 years took him to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He was injured twice, the second time resulted in his inability to continue field work and he was assigned to RAF Menwith Hill, England.  It was here that he met and married Colleen, his loving wife of 37 years. They enjoyed 10 wonderful years in the peace and beauty of the Yorkshire Dales before moving permanently to the US in 1998 where they bought a home overlooking Keuka Lake.  One New York winter was sufficient however to make them look southward and they became snowbirds, spending winters in Boynton Beach Florida. 

Although his given name was Bob he also answered to Al and Duck both of which made him smile.  He never met a stranger, everyone was simply a friend he hadn’t yet met.  He had a wonderfully wicked sense of humor and a mischievous glint in his beautiful blue eyes.  He loved spending time with family and friends and the highlight of his life was having his children and grandchildren come to visit.  Keuka Lake held a special place in his heart, he learnt to waterski there as a very young boy, something he continued to do well into his seventies.  

One of his great delights was sitting on his back deck in the evening watching the wildlife come in to drink from one of the two ponds he added to the yard, glass of red wine in hand as he identified each one of them by name. Another joy in life were his pet rabbits. All were house trained and had free roam of the house and some even trained to walk on a leash. He was the talk of the dale as he walked them up the lanes and into the pub and was a source of amusement to those old Yorkshire farmers.  

He loved to travel with friends and became a consummate Tour Guide, never allowing his sparsity of knowledge of the country or place to hinder his tale, describing as only he could, a stunningly glorious windswept vista as ‘that sticky out point of land over there.’ He was also a gifted storyteller and his many adventures over the years gave him a wealth of stories to draw from.

Bob was incredibly proud of his military heritage. His grandfather Oliver served as a Chaplain in the Civil War, his father Walter in France in World War 1, his sister Marion in the South Pacific in World War 11 and his sister Margaret in the navy at the same time. His brother Richard in Korea and of course Bob himself in Vietnam.His daughter Rebecca was a member of the National Guard and four grandsons, Michael Trefry Jr US Army (Ret), Devon Domenech US Marines (ret) and still serving their country Cory Gleason US Army and Craig Gleason US Navy.

Bob is survived by his wife Colleen, his five children Richard Brian Yale, Margaret Mary Yale, Cathrine Yale Hanna, Robert Walter Yale and Rebecca Ellen Yale. Also by 17 grandchildren and 21great grandchildren and several nephews and nieces.   

He is predeceased by his father and mother, sisters Marion Yale Cocco, Margaret Yale Simielle, Mary Yale Sperduti and brother Richard Yale.

It is impossible to condense a life so very well lived into a few paragraphs but perhaps it is sufficient to say that Bob deeply loved his Family, his Country and his God.

Rest In Peace