- Date Of Birth: August 16, 1939
- Date Of Death: March 2, 2021
- State: New Jersey
Just after midnight on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, Robert C. Cottrell, loving father of five children, died at home peacefully, comforted by children, grandchildren, siblings and cousins, on that evening and in the days before.
Bob was born August 16, 1939 in Lakewood, NJ to Clifford Cottrell and Helen (Thompkins) Cottrell. He graduated from Lakewood High School in 1957. On June 10, 1967, he married the love of his life, Linda Sutterlin. On that date too, in addition to the promises they made to each other, they vowed to be deeply committed to raising, protecting and guiding an eclectic set of four little, dusty ragamuffins, the “yours and mine.” Just a short time later, the fifth child arrived, the “ours.” Bob and Linda reared a “blended” family at a time when some might have called it a “broken” family. They were undeterred, though, and had little time to contemplate failure; they just thought of it as the best family anyone could have possibly put together.
Part of Bob’s commitment was going to work every day for his family. At first, he operated heavy equipment at Houdaille Sand and Gravel. For a time, Bob sold insurance with Mutual of Omaha, and his children all remember the Saturday afternoons when they’d go “hanging” Mutual of Omaha door-hangers at residences all over the Jersey Shore. It’s not clear how much “help” the kids were, but it’s clear that Bob loved their company for a few hours on a Saturday. There really was no one else he preferred to be with, and that was true his whole life. Later, he bought his Arnold bread route franchise. If you were one of his lucky children or their friends, or a nephew or niece, who got to work on Uncle Bob’s bread route, you got to know the man of irrepressible humor, endless pranks, nicknames and goofy sayings. You were luckier still, if you avoided a “Wonder whuppin’” and you beat “Grandpappy Stroehmann” to the grocer’s shelves.
The longest tenure in his professional career—and his last—was as a toll collector on the New Jersey Turnpike. As in his prior businesses, he made of that work his own mission of bringing warmth, humor, optimism, care, wit and even a little mischief to weary travelers from all over the world. He actually had a following there, people who looked for the toll collector who gave them a little love every time they met.
After Bob ended his vocational career in 2004, he was as determined as ever to make good on the vows he made way back in ’67. His daughter, Suzanne, lost her beloved Tony. Bob and Linda, already loving grandparents, stepped into the additional role of being something more than just grandparents to the “lovely Penna children.” As always, he was indefatigable, his love and care were ceaseless.
Finally, facing the horrible illness that robbed his beloved Linda of her memory and personality, he kept the vow he had made to her many years before: he cared for her every day until the very day she died. And he did this alone, as his beautiful girl was already gone.
He was a man of great love, warmth, and humor. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He will be missed, and always loved by those to whom he gave silly nicknames–Number One. Choo Choo Charlie. Midge. Midnight. Dolly. The Rock. Jerry Lee. Cincinnati. Foxcat. Big Ben. Softball. The Lunch Bunch. Lover Boy. Charlie Brown. In Love. Clyde. Cousin Brucie. The Rebel—and all the rest of us who somehow escaped without getting a moniker.
Bob was predeceased by his beautiful wife of 53 years, Linda; parents, Clifford Cottrell and Helen (Thompkins) Cottrell; and brothers, Clifford Cottrell, Jr. and Richard Wayne Cottrell.
Bob is survived by his sons, Robert C. Cottrell, Jr. and his wife Dana of Dillon, Colorado; Marcel Renson and his wife Elizabeth of Toms River; William Cottrell and his partner Kristin Anderson of Rochester, Minnesota; daughters, Yvonne Stern and her wife Marlena Hood of Toms River; Suzanne Penna of Pine Beach; sister, Pat Pedrick of Cumberland, Virginia; brother, David Cottrell and his partner Bruce Harding of Whiting; and the 12 grandchildren he called “the greatest grandchildren ever,” and whom he loved to the ends of the earth: Samantha, Joshua, Caleb, Sarah, Andrew, Brittany, Zachary, Madelyn, Jennifer, Marcel, Grace and Benjamin. All of them living proof that good things he started still go on.
