Robert “The Clock Doc­tor” Leo Sambs

Robert “The Clock Doc­tor” Leo Sambs, born July 18, 1937, in Mil­wau­kee, WI to Leo and Irma Sambs (Pet­rich), passed away with dig­nity and sur­rounded with love on De­cem­ber 10, 2024.

 

He is pre­ceded in death by his lov­ing wife, Remie; his ador­ing par­ents, Leo and Irma Sambs; and younger sis­ter, Mary Sambs.

Bob is sur­vived by his three chil­dren, Maria (Dave) Botelho, Leonard (Kris­ten) Sambs and Megan (fiancé Ben Stecker) Sambs; sib­lings, Tom Sambs, Peggy Nelles, Annie Mur­phy and Kathy (Sam) Olsen. Bob was blessed with five grand­chil­dren, Mandy (Joseph) Black­mon, Charis (Brandt) Brooks, Ben­jamin (Kelli) Botelho, Brecken (fiancé Mad­die) Sambs and Crew Sambs. Bob was even more blessed with 12 great- grand­chil­dren, Car­o­line, Geor­gia, Booker, Shep, Beau, Lil­lian, Mag­no­lia, Eleanor, Oliver, Jane, Solomon and Marigold.

 

Bob very much en­joyed com­ing up to Eagle River through his child­hood and for­ma­tive years thus Eagle River be­com­ing his for­ever home.

 

After grad­u­at­ing from Pius XI High School in Mil­wau­kee, Bob joined the Air Force Na­tional Guard for 5 years. Dur­ing this time, Bob tested the wa­ters join­ing the Broth­er­hood min­istry and through the guid­ance of his fam­ily un­sure what road to take next, Bob de­cided to join the Air Force in 1961, a ca­reer he deeply en­joyed. After ded­i­cat­ing his life to the Air Force for 20 years, he re­tired as Se­nior Mas­ter Sergeant in 1981. Bob met his beloved wife dur­ing his trav­els in the mil­i­tary, Remie, while sta­tioned in the Philip­pines-and they faith­fully walked thru life's ad­ven­tures hand in hand.

 

Once he re­tired, Bob and Remie moved back to Eagle River, WI. With new­found time on his hands, Bob tried var­i­ous local jobs-work­ing at our local gro­cer, was a mail car­rier, bus dri­ver and met so many won­der­ful friends along the way. A few years into his re­tire­ment, Bob de­cided to con­tinue his ed­u­ca­tion trav­el­ing to Mil­wau­kee from Eagle River at­tend­ing col­lege at MATC to be­come a Mas­ter Horol­o­gist, in lay­men’s terms the study and re­pair of me­chan­i­cal clocks. He was known to many as the “Clock Doc­tor” even up until the day God called him back home.

 

Bob was metic­u­lous in every­thing he did and was very well re­spected in his work and as a per­son within the com­mu­nity. Bob was quoted in an ar­ti­cle by our local news­pa­per back in March of 2020 re­gard­ing his clock re­pair ser­vices that he pro­vided say­ing: “The peo­ple I meet are the best part of being a Clock­maker”. Bob often re­ferred to the words, “Tem­pus Fugit” Latin for “Time Flies” as some an­tique clocks he so lov­ingly re­paired have this writ­ten on the clock it­self, hence, why he made a point to many to make the most of our lim­ited time here on earth. “If you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life”, yet an­other rule of thumb Bob prac­ticed and preached. Bob was sur­rounded by so much love dur­ing his golden years and his wis­dom will be so greatly missed.

 

Bob was a strong be­liever in his faith and vol­un­teered his time ush­er­ing weekly at St. Peter the Fish­er­man Parish. Years back, he was ac­tive with the St. Pe­ters Annex/thrift store, and he gave back to many in need.   

 

Bob also loved the out­doors and kept in shape by daily walks/bi­cy­cle rides, clear­ing snow, chop­ping wood, en­joy­ing the com­pan­ion­ship of his res­cued dogs that brought him so much com­fort along with keep­ing with his timely rou­tine liv­ing in the North­woods.

 

Most of all, Bob was the best hus­band, dad, grandpa, brother and friend to many—a true bless­ing to all. His kind­ness was con­stant and true.

 

A fu­neral ser­vice to cel­e­brate Bobs life will be held Fri­day De­cem­ber 20, 2024, at St. Peter the Fish­er­man Parish, Eagle River WI. Vis­i­ta­tion be­gins at 9:30 a.m., Mass at 11a.m. and lunch to fol­low.

 

Arrange­ments by Gaffney-Busha Fu­neral Home, Eagle River. On­line con­do­lences are wel­comed, please visit gaffney-busha.com to share your mem­o­ries of The Clock Doc­tor/Bob Sambs.

 

PAID OBIT­U­ARY