It was with great sadness that I learned earlier this week, that Bob Kellie had succumbed to Cancer. He had returned to flying after earlier treatment and regaining his medical, but sadly, this was a battle he was not to win.
Bob was an energetic, adventurous, humourous, interesting and immensely sociable guy. He was also an extremely talented and experienced pilot, flying Cranes for Erickson, both logging and globally in the Firefighting circuit. But Bob did way more than that, as he spent a considerable amount of time instructing, where he could pass on a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to those starting out in the business. Bob was part of a cadre of highly experienced instructors working in the Vancouver area, who were responsible for turning out extremely high class, well trained and practical pilots who were always in demand due to the calibre of their training.
Bob was highly respected within the industry, and as a result of his instructing and travels was very well known all over the globe. I know there are many here on PPRuNe, that have worked, trained and know Bob, so just wanted to mark my personal respects here, and share the information on a celebration of life to be held soon.
RIP, my friend. It was a great honour and privilege to have been fortunate enough to have known you. My thoughts and condolences are with all the family.
A Celebration of Life for Bob Kellie is now planned for February 6, 2016 between 1 - 4pm ???
Location: Hangar 12 @ 5225 216th St., Langley Airport, Langley, BC
A board will be available for those who would like to post photos or other memorabilia you might wish to share .... also an audio mic will be available ... So please do share your experiences and stories about Bob with everyone ....
For those of you who cannot attend but would like to share your thoughts or photos, or if you would like to have something read to the attendees, please forward to .....
[email protected] .... I will ensure that your request will be done .....
Thanking everyone for their kind thoughts .... It's very clear that Bob was well respected, loved and will be dearly missed .... Debbie