Obituary of Robert D. Weisedel

Robert (Bob) D. Weisedel, longtime resident of Eden NY, passed away on July 7th, 2025, at the age of 75 after a valiant battle with cancer. He was born on February 12th,1950 to Edwin and Irene Weisedel, who had a total of 12 children. As the eleventh child, he would often joke and say, “My parents didn’t have a television”.  The siblings, in order with the first 6 being predeceased, are Edwin, Gerald, William, Marilyn (Frank), Joan (Ralph), Maryann (Ronald), Judith (Ernest), Beverly (Late John), Donald (Late Wende), Linda, and the 12^th and final child Mark (Tina).

When Bob was 18 years old, he signed up for the United States Airforce and served honorably from June 12th,1968 to June 9th,1972. During this time, he was stationed in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base and served two tours in Vietnam between 1969 and 1970. He was honorably discharged and returned home to Derby, New York where he soon met and married Mary Lou Barrett. During their marriage, they had three children: James (Chalis), Nicole (John), and Mary. Eventually, Bob and Mary Lou went their separate ways. Bob became a single father working full time to support his family. Taking his children camping to Woodside or Allegheny almost every weekend was his favorite pastime.

In 1993, at the age of 43, he and his children’s lives quickly changed. He was very ill and the prognosis from the local doctors was grim. He was given only 6 months to live, but when his sister Linda heard, she didn’t waste any time to help her “baby brother” as she called him. At the time she lived in Manhattan Beach, California. Even though he was heartbroken over having to leave his children behind, Linda quickly got him on a plane and into UCLA Medical Center. After thorough testing, they found that he had Hepatitis-C and was suffering from complications that came from being exposed to Agent Orange when he was “boots on the ground” in Vietnam for 1 year 5 months and 1 day, fighting for our country. Prior to this, he was never told nor knew about the long-lasting and harmful consequences that these chemicals would have. Bob was on the organ transplant list for a liver for months. With seemingly no new liver coming any time soon, Bob was only becoming increasingly sick. Eventually, he was told by his doctors that he only had 24 hours to live if no liver became available to him. Nicole, his eldest daughter, was with him. Then, on the brink of hopelessness, a match was found! Tragically, an 18-year-old girl lost her life, but she was an organ donor who was a match to Bob. Even in death, she saved a life.

During his stay in the hospital to recover, he met actor Jim Nabors. He always liked to tell the story of getting to know him. Bob also laughed telling the story of when the nurses almost dropped a TV on him. Even with this donor liver the estimated life expectancy was 5 years. At the time of his death, he was days away from celebrating 32 miraculous years of life with that very same liver without ever having a sign rejection.

He was able to finally reunite with his youngest daughter. Bob chose to live in Redondo Beach, California with his two daughters from 1993 to 2004, while his son was in the Army stationed abroad.

In 2004, Bob decided to move back to New York and bought his first house in Eden. Bob quickly became a pillar of the community and everyone knew him fondly. He was the commissioner of Little Loop Football in which his oldest grandson played, he belonged to the American Legion Post 880 where he served many years on the board and was vice commander before eventually stepping down due to his health, despite that he was still willing to help the Legion if needed, even if it was just to loan out the pop-up tent. He also served on the Corn Festival board, Bob liked to help where ever he could.

Bob would also, for many years, go up to the Four Corners restaurant for his breakfast, a black coffee, and to just sit and talk with people. During the warmer months, he loved sitting on his deck to read his book, drink his Green Mountain breakfast blend coffee (which was his favorite) and wait for either his grandsons to get off the bus, or for the mail person to come so he had an excuse to chit chat. Bob loved watching and feeding the hummingbirds from that porch too. To him, they were such fascinating and beautiful little creatures. That wasn’t his only hobby though; for many years, he was involved in the art of woodworking and made beautiful, intricate pieces - just like his brother, Gerald. For many years they participated in the Erie County Fair woodworking building together. Those beautiful wooden creations will be cherished as heirlooms by his family forever.

Bob loved 70’s music, calling The Eagles “the greatest band there ever was”. His mother for every birthday would make him his favorite cake, Angel Food Cake with fresh whip cream and strawberries. A birthday never went by without requesting his daughter Mary to bake his favorite cake or for the holidays his request was rock cookies and kris kringles, which were his mother’s recipes.

Bob also enjoyed sitting on the side lines, no matter what the weather conditions were, watching his grandchildren play sports. Due to his sense of humor, he would proudly tell the story of the rugby game in which his granddaughter, Megan, ripped the pants off a girl on the field by mistake.

He was so proud to watch all his grandchildren thrive over the years. Tragedy unfortunately struck when his second granddaughter, Madison AKA “Magoo”, passed away on August 1st, 2018, at the age of 20 from a car accident. He leaves behind his grandchildren;

Kaytlyn (Rob), Monica (James), Anthony (Kristina), Megan (Will), Aidyn, and Austin. He was also blessed to have been able to meet his very first great grandchild, James AKA “Augie”, born to Monica and James in 2023.

To watch his family grow and accomplish milestones in life made him the happiest man on earth. He was deeply proud of every single one of his grandchildren, even if he didn’t say it outright enough. He loved all his children and grandchildren profoundly, and even took on a fatherly role with Anthony, Aidyn, and Austin - without any hesitation or second thought - when they needed someone most. As a result, these three boys who have only known papa’s leadership and loyalty their whole lives don’t just feel like they have lost a Papa, they feel like they have also lost their dad too.

Bob first started showing some concerning symptoms in December 2023 that he was not ignoring.  However, in June 2024 all of our lives turned upside down when Bob was diagnosed with cancer far too late, which caused him to have the longest, hardest, and most painful battle, but he still continued to fight until his very last breath. He was a fighter and had a lot to fight for. Mary, his youngest daughter, was by his side every step of the way and put on many hats to make sure he was getting the care he needed and deserved. She was his voice and biggest advocate in his fight. Almost daily, she dealt with two different hospitals and many different doctors. However, on May 24th, 2025 he was taken into Roswell and unfortunately never left. No matter how tough or painful it was, he fought hard and stayed his humorous self until the very end. He never wanted people to worry about it, he would say, “It is what it is”. He had a lot to live for and a lot of people who loved him. All he wanted was to come home and be with his family.

Bob was not just a father and a papa, he was our patriarch, our rock, our protector, our guide, our light, the glue that held us together, and our designated advice giver, even if what he said wasn’t what we wanted to hear. Despite his grumpy looking exterior, he was our humorous, loving, kind hearted world, but our world shattered on July 7th, 2025 when he lost his battle and was taken from us too soon with two of his children James and Mary by his side. Our lives will forever be changed with losing our person, our everything.

He leaves behind his children, grandchildren, great grandson, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, friends, and beloved little hummingbirds. His absence will forever be felt by all who were impacted by him, because he made sure to leave this world a better place for his family and community. He is loved and missed with an intensity that no assembly of words could possibly describe.

A military graveside burial with full military honors will be held on August 23^rd at 12pm at Evergreen Cemetery in Eden New York. In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to Connect Life WNY, or the American Legion Post 880 in Eden in honor of Robert D. Weisedel and the incredible, heroic legacy he has left behind.