100 Years Young, and Still Making Everyone Else’s Day Better

By AAN Jack Quirk

It’s not every day you get to celebrate 100 years… and it’s definitely not every day half the county shows up to help you do it.

Judge Robert C. “Bob” Lovell hit that milestone this week, and the room was filled with Judges, attorneys, associates, friends, family State leaders sent along official paperwork, the kind with seals and signatures, to make it clear, this wasn’t just any birthday.

The group gathered at the Hennessey Merchantable, Wednesday, March 25 for a luncheon to hang out with Bob.

But if you asked around the room what really stood out, it wasn’t the citations. It was Bob.

Associate District Judge Lance Schneiter summed it up with a simple idea that’s apparently been his secret all along: try to make somebody else’s day better. Turns out, if you do that for about 100 years, people tend to remember.

A legislative citation, read by Schneiter, walked through Bob’s story, from being born in Waukomis in 1926 to graduating from Enid High School in 1944, then heading straight into World War II. He served as a machine gunner in the Army’s 9th Armored Division and was part of the historic push at the Bridge at Remagen.

After the war, Bob came home, got his degrees from the University of Tulsa, and got to work. He spent 20 years in banking before serving 16 years as Kingfisher County Judge, earning a reputation for being fair, steady, and the kind of guy you wanted on your side, or at least on the bench.

The legislative honor was presented on behalf of Representative Mike Dobrinski, Senator Darcy Jech, and Senator Chuck Hall.

A second recognition from Governor J. Kevin Stitt, was read by retired District Judge Robert Davis, officially marking Bob’s 100th birthday and a lifetime of service. There was even a small mix-up in the reading about which county he served, but nobody seemed too worried about that. When you’ve got a résumé like Bob’s, a typo doesn’t slow you down.

At the end of the day, the certificates were nice, but the crowd said it all. A full room, plenty of smiles, and a long line of people waiting to shake his hand.

Not bad for a guy whose only real strategy was just trying to make someone else’s day a little better.

Happy Birthday Bob!