Robert R. “Bob” Roe, who served 32 years as a volunteer firefighter in Oregon and was deeply connected to his hometown school’s football program, died Tuesday. He was 88.

The family elected not to conduct an autopsy but believes he may have suffered a heart attack outside his son Jeff Roe’s Oregon home where he had lived since February, daughter-in-law Lori Roe said.

Mr. Roe was well known in the community as a stalwart supporter of Oregon schools’ football program.

He had played defense for the Clay High School team and told everyone he met about the undefeated team he was part of.

"His senior year they only had 18 points scored against them the whole year, in nine games,” Mrs. Roe said.

He graduated in 1953 and was later inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982. He started coaching youth football in 1961, naming the Coy Elementary team the Rams — as it remains today. He also went on to become a volunteer coach at Fassett Junior High and Clay High.

"He just lived and breathed football,” Mrs. Roe said. "I bet he had season tickets at Clay High School for over 50 years, right under the press box."

When his children and grandchildren entered sports, Mr. Roe took a very active supporting role even if they chose sports other than football.

"He was at everything. He took them to practice and never missed anything,” Mrs. Roe said. "He learned to love golf just by watching his grandson play golf."

His love extended to the Ohio State University Buckeyes, and he would pack a group of people into a motorhome to go tailgating at the Ohio State-University of Michigan rivalry games. His wife, the former Sylvia Brice whom he met in high school and married in 1956, was a U-M fan.

“They were a house divided,” Mrs. Roe said. "We had lots of fun."

After high school, Mr. Roe went to work as an iron ore operator at the former Interlake Iron Corp. plant on Front Street in Toledo, retiring in 1987. In 1956, he joined the Oregon Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter and served at Station 2 on Wheeling Street.

"He served through three fire chiefs,” Mrs. Roe said. “He just loved doing it.”

He was later promoted and became the department’s engineer, placing him in charge of the trucks.

“He was on the trucks all the time,” retired Battalion Chief Bob Lamb said. “He wanted them ready to go all the time.”

Mr. Roe was very particular about cleanliness, both of the trucks and of the station, Mr. Lamb said. He was notorious in that regard and did not allow other firefighters to leave any sort of mess behind.

“He never left [a truck] dirty,” Mr. Lamb said. “He never left the station if it wasn’t cleaned.”

After Mr. Roe’s retirement in 1988, former Chief Ray Walendzak said in a letter that Mr. Roe “will always be remembered by those that knew you and served with you as having the cleanest trucks in Ohio, and this includes the wheel wells.”

Mr. Roe went on to be employed on grounds maintenance crews at Owens Corning and Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital for several years before entering full retirement.

Mr. Roe was born July 8, 1933 in Toledo to William and Freda Roe. He was married to his wife for 53 years until she died in 2010.

Surviving are his two sons, Robert Roe and Jeff Roe; four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at Freck Funeral Chapel, 1155 S. Wynn Rd., Oregon, with a firefighter’s service at 7 p.m.

A funeral service at the chapel begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday with burial to follow in Lake Township Cemetery.

The family suggests tributes to the Oregon Fire Department or St. Mark Lutheran Church.

First Published September 13, 2021, 4:00 a.m.