Sad news

[bstar82]

I'm sad to share with you that Bob Lendman has passed away. He was a former director of the Phantom Regiment and the Blue Stars in the 70's and early 80's. Bob was injured in a motorcycle accident not too long ago and the latest news sounded like he was recovering just fine. Anybody who knew Bob or marched under Bob's leadership can attest to what a great person and friend he was. Our prayers go out to his wife Allison and the entire family.

[chris ncsu]

:(

[mcjordansc]

RIP

[luvs me sum mello!]

.

[esch]

Very sad news. Much love and many prayers to his family.

[Northern Thunder]

Bob helped establish the standard that Phantom has attained and maintained since the early 1970s.

He was a great guy, and he will be greatly missed.

[ripper]

[IllianaLancerContra]

.

[njthundrrd]

Bob was a board member at Star of Indiana for many years also. I met him there and he really did teach me a lot about this activity on and off the field over the years. He will be missed.

[kstein]

Because he chose never to be the public facing "voice" of Star of Indiana, many don't know what an important part of that corps' history Bob played. Bob was working for Bill Cook when Bill got the nutty idea to start a corps in Bloomington. Bob was the person who talked him through the financial part of the process, found the busses and trucks, brought in the key support staff and instructional staff, and convinced the veteran members who came to march there that this was indeed a "real" deal. Bob and Moe Latour called in tons of favors to get the corps bookings that first year. (We were on first, but we had a full slate of shows.) Bob kept everything running from behind the scenes, and without him there not only would not have been a Star in 1985, but there likely would not have been a Star of Indiana ever. When you consider all he did for the Pink Team, as well as his outstanding contributions to both the Blue Stars and the Phantom Regiment, it is truly hard to think of many people who contributed more to this activity and impacted more young lives than Bob.

I met Bob in 1985. I had come from the Bridgemen to check out this crazy new corps that this even crazier millionaire had decided to start in Indiana. DeLucia, Dubinsky, Zingali, Sylvester, Cesario, Kerschner, and others helped to coax me there. The idea that somebody might have figured out how to fund my beloved activity For Real was the main attraction for this particular age out. I didn't believe my beloved Bridgemen would be able to even limp to the field for another year, knowing full well how tragic their finances were, and this seemed like the ideal situation in which to start and run and drum corps and I wanted to see it for myself. So I found myself at a school in the middle of a cornfield in the Fall of 1984.

Somehow, I believed that I was just another anonymous member of the several hundred or so young people auditioning that first camp. We had done some musical work on Friday and Saturday morning, and were told to be on the busses out in front of the newly purchased school at 1:00 to go to the IU Fieldhouse to do some marching on Saturday afternoon. My Bayonne mates and I were ambling towards our rides at a few minutes to 1:00 - pretty good for "Bridgemen time"! Suddenly, a broad, bearded guy grabbed me by the jacket and slammed me up against the side of the bus. He quickly got nose to nose with me and growled. "If you're going to be the drum major for this goofy bunch of little kids, you need to set the example for them starting now. Get on the #### bus at 10 of, and we leave exactly at 1:00." With that, he let me go, and I staggered onto the bus - ###### off and confused. "Who was that jerk?" I asked Moe Latour. "Oh, child, that was Bob Lendman", Moe told me in that gorgeous, syrupy Bayou drawl of his. "Bob Lendman? Like, Phantom Regiment Bob Lendman?" I croaked. Moe just smiled at me.

I quickly got off the bus, introduced myself, and apologized. Bob just grinned at me and said "I heard you Jersey kids learn fast."

It was the beginning of a long and wonderful friendship. Frankly, being the old lady in a corps of young Hoosiers had its share of challenges, and Bob was particularly sensitive to how difficult being in a rookie corps was for a handful of veteran age outs and he made sure to give us plenty of opportunity to blow off steam, when it was absolutely necessary. That Summer was a blur of strange travels with a very young corps that was better than any of us expected it to be, but my memories are full of pre-retreat cocktails with Gail Royer, introductions to so many of the directors and staff I idolized in the activity, and friendships initiated with long ago Phantom and Blue Star members, all courtesy of Bob.

The years after 1985 saw Bob still tirelessly working behind the scenes with Star, while both of us now worked for Cook Inc. When on business in the New England area, we would gladly grab George Bonfiglio (always Mr. B to me!), and we would share wonderful stories over long and wonderful seafood dinners. I would travel back to Indiana and on to nationals to help his amazing wife Allison run the Bloomington show - best show I've EVER seen in terms of organization and management - and we'd always catch up and compare notes during Finals week while trying to help others enjoy their experience, whether veteran corps fans or newbies.

I left Cook, Bob retired (or as close to it as he ever got!), and our visits got more sporadic. I had the pleasure of marching with his grandson in the first Star Alumni event ("you're little Joey?"), and I thought of Bob, Allison, and their wonderful family often...but life, as it has a way of doing, took us in other, busy directions. Still, I expected to bump into the Burly One at shows for the next 20 years, but Fate, God, whatever, apparently had other plans.

For those of you who march today and don't know your history, for goodness sakes ASK SOMEONE! Bob, Allison, and many others like them made it possible for this activity to survive, to grow, and to be what you know today. For those of you who knew Bob, consider yourself lucky. I know I do. For those of you also lucky enough to know Bob's wife Allison and their wonderful family, please extend your hugs and prayers. They'll need them, they deserve them, and they'll never, ever ask for them. There's is a family I truly feel blessed to have known, and consider every moment I've spent with them as a gift. One I likely didn't deserve.

I've buried far, far too many friends in drum corps. For a cranky middle aged lady of 46, I feel like I've lost too, too many friends. But this one hurts so very, very much. This one individual - already a legend before I met him - made my very strange and uncomfortable age out year choice an adventure to remember, and the beginning of a friendship I treasured. How many of us can say we made the difference in the "life" of a corps? Can anyone else claim to have impacted the lives of 3 outstanding organizations and all of the amazing young people who passed through their doors?

I am heartsick to have to say goodbye to the very wonderful Bob Lendman. I can only hope that the amazing folks who have gone before him are waiting with a cold beer, open arms, and a very loud hornline.

With love to a dear old friend,

Karen