Robert "Bob" James Demerath

ROBERT (BOB) JAMES DEMERATH

October 26, 1948 – May 5, 2022

A husband, a father and step-father, a grandfather and great grandfather, an officer, a builder, an artist, a mentor, a gentleman, a friend…..and so much more.

Bob was the cherished husband of Jennifer (Young) and proud father of Barbara (Tony) Khamo, Sandra (Jamie) Prasnick and Robert (Carla), step-father of Beth (Phil) Aube, grandfather of Mark, James, Justin, Raven, Diego, Kaitlyn and Chelsea Aube and great grandfather of Alison.

Predeceased by his parents, Clarence and Marion Demerath, he also leaves behind his sister Barbara (Harold) Borkovec, brothers William (Mary) and James (Christine) and sisters-in-law, Deborah (John) Dickson and Pamela Reed.

Bob was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin and as a teenager, worked at Lambeau Field, remaining a lifelong, diehard fan of the Green Bay Packers.  He joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1966 where he served two tours of duty out of Guam along with several postings in mainland U.S.A. before joining the Port Orange Police Department in Florida.  In addition to his operational duties, he also acted as a training officer and range officer and was honoured with the title of, “Police Officer of the Year”.

It was during this time he met Jennifer while she was vacationing nearby and they were married in 1984.  Three years later, he was granted Canadian Citizenship with Jennifer as the RCMP representative officiating at the citizenship ceremony.

In the meantime, Bob had turned his hand to construction and, in addition to building several stick-frame and post & beam houses in Lanark County, he and Jennifer also designed and built their own home on the Mississippi in Beckwith Township.

Bob joined the Mississippi Mills Building Department in 2000 and retired as their Chief Building Official and By-Law Enforcement Officer in 2012.  During this time, he had the pleasure of meeting and working with building officials of surrounding municipalities and continued to provide backup in their communities after his retirement.

Prior to retirement, Bob had established his own home business, “Demerath Design & Drafting” resulting in the construction of many beautiful homes and commercial buildings throughout Lanark County.

Bob was an avid downhill skier and enjoyed many outings with the RCMP 1200 Ski Club as well as annual trips to the “big runs” in Whistler, Banff and Lake Louise.  He and Jennifer loved to travel internationally with their very first trip taking them from Rome, Italy to Glasgow, Scotland by car over a five-week period.

He was a man of many talents and in more recent years had taken up wood turning which he thoroughly enjoyed and served on the Executive of the Ottawa Valley Woodturning Club. 

It gave him great pleasure to be able to lend a helping hand and he was always the first to step up when needed.  For the past several years, he volunteered along with Jennifer at “As Good As New” (Lanark Country Interval House) and assisted in the initial design preparations to convert a building in Perth for the use of LCIH clients.

Friends may visit the family at the Alan R. Barker Funeral Home, 19 McArthur Avenue, Carleton Place on Thursday, May 12th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Friday, May 13th from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a service immediately following in the chapel. The service will be livestreamed on YouTube, to view the service search YouTube.com for "BarkerFH Robert Demerath" starting at 2:25 p.m. on Friday.

In lieu of flowers a donation to the Ruddy-Shenkman Hospice in Kanata, Ontario would be much appreciated.

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