A death in the family (1 Viewer)

[2fpower]

It brings me to tears to type this and announce the all too early death of our beloved friend and the best human I have ever known, Robert (Rob) Kessler. Rob was found unconscious at his house on Wednesday, December 12th from an unfortunate accident. We have truly lost one of the good ones.

I invite all of you to come to a visitation / rememberence of his life from 5-8pm at Good Shepard Catholic Church in Smithville, Missouri on Monday, December 17th. Funeral services will be held at the same Good Shepard Catholic Church in Smithville at 10am on Tuesday December 18th. Additionally, there will be a second service in Mexico, Missouri, at the St. Brendan Catholic Church on Saturday, December 22nd at 10am.

Good Shepard is at 18601 N. 169 Highway, Smithville, MO 64089

I am asking for everyone to pray for his Fiance Leslie, his brother Joe, his dad Larry, and their entire family.

To me, Rob was the brother I never had. One of my very best people I have known. He was the type of guy that found joy in giving and helping others. He would give you the shirt off his back, go buy another shirt and give you that one too. TAC was like a second family to Rob. I am sure that many of you feel like I do -- in that his words and his actions made me want to be a better person.

We went on so many crazy-ass adventures -- from Canada to Texas (N to S), and Illinois to Utah (E to W). I will be sharing stories for the rest of my life; however, I fully admit to being greedy as I was ready to get a whole 18 wheeler truckload more.

There are so many questions that we will never get more answers for about why; however, I have to believe that God has a plan. Rob is now with his mother that he loved and missed so much that passed away several years ago.

I welcome you all to post up to this thread; however, with your comments, please post up your pictures of him and please -- I beg you -- to upload those pictures and tell any stories you want to share to this thread. I will be pulling all these pictures and adding them to a slideshow for Monday night.

God bless and be with you all.

Kelly

 

[2fpower]

No order or organization to my photo's. This is at Asher's place on a very off camber section that led to a loop through some rocks

teardown with Sammy of Sturgis in my driveway where in a few hours the car became a pile of parts.

This is at Toyota Jamboree in Texas, Rob and I shared driving duties in Foo

one of my favorite pictures ever, at the start of Engineer pass in Colorado

this is at the top of Black Bear pass before you start the decent to Telluride.

 

[2fpower]

Down at Smorr near Springfield Missouri with Mitch and Josh.

This is a pic when we were searching for waterfalls near Byrds campground in Arkansas.... we never found the waterfalls. Founds some CRAZY trails.

A couple days after Byrds, we joined Sammy for the High water mark trail in Arkansas with a few other 80's.

This is at Flat Nasty, the waterfall area. Rob did make it up this wild spot... just a touch of a pull was needed.

 

[2fpower]

Smorr again.. headed to Rocky Road

And this would be Rocky Road. 1 hour to go about 250 feet. Smiling all the way...

This picture shows about 90% of the test drive for Foo before we put it on a trailer and hauled it to Smorr right after taking off the top, welding up the tube doors and Josh and Anna painting on the stripes.

 

[2fpower]

pics from our day out of the office... This is the start of the one way section of Black Bear pass, one of the top rated trails in America.

This is the decent into Telluride on Black Bear. Amazing trail.

This pic gives you an idea of how steep the grade on Black Bear is, the switchbacks require a 5 point turn with not much room for error.

another of my favorite shots. That is Rob and I in lexi just below the last switchback road... so steep you can see us through the sunroof.

Finally, this is near Euray Colorado, I think Yankee Boy Basin.... Somewhere there is a picture of Rob making snow angels in that snow pile in the middle of August.

 

[2fpower]

Up one of the many passes in Colorado. Minutes later we watched a 4 wheeler that was left in neutral bounce hundreads of feet down the mountain and landed about where Lexi is in this picture.

The rest are more pics from Colorado.

 

[2fpower]

Under Black Bear pass is Bridal Veil Falls... what an amazing day...

Then more pics in Colorado.....

 

[2fpower]

This is in Moab, Utah.

 

[kc_chevota]

View attachment 256ca9_f9b66a3a405d428c9491f8a33139a987_mv2 (1).jpeg

 

[2fpower]

That's Rob under the sandblasting helmet, working on Old Blue, sandblasting it down to bare metal.

Smorr and the TAC extended family

This is tuttle. Twin ledges? Mini ledges? i get them all confused...

 

[orion]

Terribly sorry to hear...

My brothers (@ufg8r + one not a member here) wheeled and hung out with Rob a fair amount at Southern Cruiser Crawl 2017.

Seemed like a great guy - My condolences to his family.

- Brian

 

[CrowleyFJ40]

There are no words. Truly a great loss.

We'll get our pictures up after we go through all the years.

 

[kc_chevota]

that's better sister sent me the original.

 

[ufg8r]

Sorry for your loss. I met him at Southern Cruiser Crawl 2017. Clearly a good guy.

I took this shot as Rob was coming up Ultimate Adventure trail....

 

[cjmoon]

He will be missed. Always jumping in to help when anyone was in need. no pics to share just those in my head of Tuttle trips or my garage installing a trans for the missionary couple from TX, digging in and getting dirty just like many of pictures above. such a loss.

my thoughts and prayers are with Leslie and family.

 

[FZJ80 in KC]

Though I knew this post was coming, I'm so sad again reading this, because I miss my friend.

Rob took care of people. That's just what he did. Rach and I were crying and laughing yesterday remembering him, because we still have the damn ceramic bowl that he brought homemade chicken soup in to our home for Rach when she had pneumonia during her pregnancy with Cash....2 1/2 YEARS ago! He didn't ask if he could swing by; he just showed up with it. Every time I saw him, I'd remember and say, "oh, I need to get your dish back!" And now I'm looking at the damn thing still. But he'd just give me that simultaneous smile and shrug that he always does, showing off that perfect bridge of pearly white teeth!

Rob always made sure I was good. Need a drink? Can I help with your tent? "Have you eaten Mikey?" His hands have been all over my rig, fixing and working with me on it.

He loved to teach. It makes me laugh now thinking of Byrd's, before high water mark trail, when he and I were arguing about what campfire method was better to get a fire really going; the log cabin or teepee?

That trip is still so dear to me, because it was right in a transition between my change from dad of 1 to dad of 2, just a few months before Cash was born. Work had been so stressful, and I was a little terrified to be honest. But Rob could calm me with that big fuzzy aura of grace and love that just poured off of him. God he made me crazy on that trip too, but I loved him for it!

He and I bunked together at the hotel right before we all met up for High Water Mark trail. Sammy, you bunked with us too on the couch i think. And in the morning, no matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't let me pay. And that was just Rob; others first always.

I have only a few pics, mostly of his rig, because I'm terrible at stopping and taking the time to snap them.

I love you Rob, and i miss you so much. Thanks Kelly for taking the reigns on this. I'm so sorry brother.

 

[SammyT96LX450]

Since I became a part of the TAC family Rob was part of pretty much every one of my adventures. He was always the first one up cooking breakfast making sure everyone was taken care of first. He was a fantastic friend to me. The first event I attended I jumped in with him and at that time he was “test driving” LEXI. Ha! Things escalated quickly. He always tried to find the biggest rock to get stuck underneath LEXI or figure out his flex score on his makeshift rti ramp. We spent several nights driving around smorr and rob would share his amazing life story with me. Rob was a great friend that I will dearly miss. I can walk out to my Lexus right now and point out all the little projects he helped me with. The biggest compliment he ever gave me was in Arkansas when asked me if I wanted to change his brake booster....2 years prior to that I did not know how to change my oil. He was a great teacher and very patient with me as I was learning my way around land cruisers. I miss you buddy.

 

[SammyT96LX450]

 

[ccasteel]

Rob will be missed. Rosey considers him one of her "Landcruiser" Dads. He always had an extra seat for her or anyone else. Especially on night runs when biological dad just wanted to go to sleep. I noticed above some rare pictures showing him in actual shoes instead of the customary flip flips. We who have known him are better for it, and his legacy will live on in the many lives he has touched.

 

[1994pd]

I am fortunate to have called Rob a friend. I am eternally grateful for my good fortune in meeting Rob for the first time. He took the time to give me a ride in Lexi and led me down the path to purchasing my LC. If it wasn't for his infectious enthusiasm I would never have met all of the wonderful people in the TAC family. I owe Rob for not only all of the wonderful times hanging out with him, but all of the great friends I have made in TAC. I know Rob made me a better person for knowing him. The world lost a truly great person and we all lost a great friend.