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January 6, 1913 - September 30, 2006

Thoughts of My Father given by Sharon (Flanagan) Cook

Robert Michael Flanagan was born in Oconomowoc, WI in 1913.  He was one of four sons.

During his life in Wisconsin he was a track star and earned medals in the Olympic trials in speed skating. He played the clarinet and the saxophone in bands during his college years and I remember how he enjoyed telling his stories of those days. He attended college at Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in engineering in 1939. He married his sweetheart, Eunice, in 1940 who was also from Oconomowoc.  They moved to NJ in 1940 and had four children, John, Mary, Sharon and Rick. My father was not only a very kind man; he was also a very talented, remarkable inventor.  He held 45 patents in a variety of industries. He invented the reflective snow-plowable road markers that are embedded in the roadways and reflect the headlights and mark the lanes.  He worked on diesel engines, air pumps, hydraulic pumps, turbine engines, anti-aircraft weapons and helped create the first autopilot for commercial airlines. 

He held Senior Executive positions with Bendix Aviation, Fairchild Engineering, Rotron Manufacturing and Amerace Corporation. In 1970 he was awarded the National Design Award. In 1987 my Dad compiled a book of his inventions and gave this book to each of his children as a Christmas gift. I was so happy to receive this book and I still look at it from time to time.  One time my Dad and I built a fiberglass skate sail. When it was completed we went to the frozen lake and I did some trial tests while he documented the outcomes. He also involved me in the testing of his single blade roller skates prototype - in 1957!!  Too bad he never got the patent on those…I hear they did well!! 

Dad loved to go boating and we had a boat when we lived on Long Island where our family would enjoy fishing, water skiing and rides over to the ocean for a day of beach fun.  Dad would take my younger brother and me snow skiing. He gave us the lessons and then took us to the top of the mountain and said “Follow me”.  Scary, but he had complete confidence in us. Dad loved to golf and also did very well winning trophies at events. He took me golfing a few times but did not have the same confidence that he had with my snow skiing day.  He loved to train his hunting dog and enjoyed taking my older brother duck hunting. I loved hugging and playing with the puppies his dog had. 

My Dad also loved his grandchildren. He would make them laugh with his stories and his dry sense of humor. He would create little certificates for them if they had gathered acorns or trapped little chipmunks to be relocated. He would put them on his lap and have them steer the lawnmower. He encouraged them with their school work and would write letters to them telling them how proud he was. When he and my Mom relocated back to the Mid-West he attended the sports events of his grandchildren who lived there. 

Above all of the wonderful things my Dad did in his career the most important thing that I will always remember about him was the kind and gentle way he showed his love for his family. He was a humble, sweet and an encouraging man. He was a man of faith and showed us, through his actions, how to be decent, loving and kind human beings. This will be his legacy.  

The words of "Afterglow" say;

I’d like the memory of me
To be a happy one
I’d like to leave an afterglow
Of smiles when life is done
I’d liked to leave an echo whispering softly
Down the way,
Of happy times and laughing times
And bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those
Who grieve, to dry before the sun
Of happy memories that I leave
When life is done.

These would be the desires of my father as he would never want anyone to be sorrowful.   

Sharon (Flanagan) Cook Daughter of Robert Michael Flanagan