Bob Peck Eulogy
Bill Warner
Early life and health
Bob Peck is gone. He was the engineering genius behind Peck-Polymers. A heart attack at Christmastime 1990 and breathing problems shortly afterward took him from us.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah near the beginning of the Great Depression, Bob had the misfortune of being stricken with rheumatoid arthritis during his early days in high school. When a new drug became available to aid sufferers of this crippling and painful malady, its use made it possible for Bob to function at a level of activity nearer to normal, but the disease continued and worsened throughout his life. It slowed him down, but he was never one to let it get in the way of his interests in things mechanical (cars, bikes and airplanes), fishing, animals and nature.
Family and partnership
In 1958, Bob and Sandy were married, forming an unsinkable team that gave each other love and devotion backed by inner strength that enabled them to meet and conquer disasters which would have crushed lesser beings.
Peck-Polymers and modeling contributions
Founded in 1971, Peck-Polymers was successful as a fishing-lure maker because it had a good product. When they switched to model planes, they not only made a go of it, but also gained a reputation that circled the globe.
Bob’s contributions to modeling were greater than just design. He made a number of excellent beginners’ models possible, enabling many cottage-industry types to sell their plans, kits and products through the Peck-Polymers catalog. They were outstanding kits with good wood, the Peck nylon nose button, and they outflew anything else on the market.
Notable models and kits associated with Peck-Polymers include:
- Peck R.O.G.
- Prairie Bird
- D.A.C. Night 28
- Other tried-and-true designs by Bob and other master modelers whose plans Bob kitted
Each time a beginning modeler of any age builds one of these models, the result is a tribute to his vision.
Innovative blimps and public displays
In recent years Bob expanded into designing electric RC blimps, many of which were quite clever:
- A Space Shuttle
- A huge floating pig that could drop and catch an oversized basketball
- Fantasy-theme, light-studded airships "manned" by comical dolls
His blimps have been seen by millions of people, from fans of the "Hollywood Squares" TV show to visitors to the daily shows at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul, Korea, where four of his fantasy airships were featured.
Later years and adaptations
Bob broke his leg in 1973; the aftermath of this incident resulted in his being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As the arthritis progressed, Bob finally had to curtail his drafting as the pain became too great. He could no longer turn his head easily, and any movement at all was difficult and painful.
With Sandy’s love and help he went on, never uttering a word of complaint or self-pity. Quite the contrary: he refused to be curtailed by his disability, redesigning his home, workshop and darkroom to fit his life on wheels.
His wheelchair became an extension of himself. He modified his 300-lb. vehicle to avoid "being caught in the middle of the street when the traffic light changed." He added filmmaking capability by equipping it with a TV camera and monitor, and adding a model-plane control stick improved its handling.
Spending a day with Bob and Sandy gave one some appreciation of what overcoming handicaps is about: finding a place to park where one can get the chair elevator out from the side of the special van, enduring the jostling, heat and noise during travels, or coping with hardships like getting stranded in the middle of the Nevada desert with a blown engine or trying to visit friends in Europe whose only access was a forbidding staircase.
When the building housing his business burned a few years ago, he rebuilt it and made it better. When he could no longer hold a drafting pen, he didn’t stop designing. He might not have been able to do as much as he wanted, but he was never satisfied with mediocrity. He excelled through ingenuity and persistence.
Character and legacy
If Bob was admired for his ability as an electro-mechanical engineer and modeler by all who knew him, he was held in awe for his courage in the face of adversity. He was more than a survivor. With Sandy’s strength, love, help and devotion he accomplished minor miracles.
Bob’s enthusiasm for life was catching, and you never ceased to appreciate his warmth and spirit. A mutual friend once said that Bob had accomplished more from a wheelchair than any three of us. No one who knew him would dispute that, except to say that "three" seemed a bit on the low side.
Sandy intends to keep Peck-Polymers going, which should please the many friends she and Bob made over the years. The familiar orange-boxed kits that introduced so many to modeling and gave them success will continue to be a fitting memorial to him.
We are grateful for his many contributions to modeling and are truly inspired by his example as a model human being. He never lost the excitement of youth, and he never lowered his eyes from the skies.
Postscript
- A plaque is being set into the wall of the AMA Museum in Bob's memory.
- A Peck Prairie Bird contest with classes for all ages is being sponsored by the Black Sheep Squadron at the 1991 U.S. Free Flight Champs in California, to be held over the Memorial Day weekend.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
