Yuma County AZ Archives Obituaries.....Colvin , Robert Red Eagle "Bob" May 26, 2010 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/az/azfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sherry Footprintseeker Bloodsworth sherryinbratt@hotmail.com August 21, 2013, 2:38 pm Yuma Sun and Arizona Old Time Fiddlers Red Eagle Colvin, 74, of Wellton, died May 26, 2010, in Wellton. He was born Feb. 6, 1936, in Pleasant Grove, Fla., and was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Funeral services will be 4 p.m. Tuesday at Sunset Vista Funeral Home, sharing with family and friends from 5 to 6 p.m. Published in The Yuma Sun from May 29 to June 29, 2010 http://arizonaoldtimefiddlers.org/images/July%202010.pdf Yuma area musician Bob 'Red Eagle' Colvin of Wellton passed away May 26th at the age of 74.Bob Colvin grew up hard and poor in the piney woods of the Florida panhandle. He was a racial and a culturalmixture. Caucasian and Native American. Not a popular combination. Not in those times. Not at that place. His father died when Bob was still a boy. Hard times became harder. There aren't many Americans left who grew up in a world without indoor plumbing. Bob Colvin was one of the few. He reached young manhood just in time for the tail-end ofthe Korean War and served in the US. Navy. He was seriously wounded when a mine exploded prematurely. He carried the scars for the rest of his life. Bob wore many a different hat in his life. At one time he was a pro wrestler. At another a reservation officer. He met his wife while in New Orleans with the Salvation Army. Among other occupations and avocations he was a bouncer, a preacher and a rancher. He was a husband. And a father. Bob was an outspoken patriot. He was a man of spiritual strength. And in the deep core of his being a pair of crystaline facets defined the distilled essence of the man. He was a musician. And he was a Native American activist.Bob Colvin wasn't just Bob Colvin. He was also Red Eagle.In his healthier days Red Eagle was active both in the Native American communities near Yuma and in country music and old time fiddling worlds in the same town. Red Eagle was a superb musician who could play guitar, mandolin,dobro, doghouse bass, mouth bow and Lord knows what else and backed up many a Yuma fiddler. He was full of jokes and stories. Like all good story- tellers, the line between the objective 'real' world and his subjective inner world was none too clear. He never had a whole lot in the way of material wealth. His last home in the deep desert town of Wellton was nearly as humble as the hard scrabble Florida panhandle home he grew up in. But Red Eagle was tight with the Great Spirit. And he was far better off than the distant days of his hard scrabble youth. He had a cool bright-painted handicapped equipped pickup truck and his treasure trove of well-used guitars. Good enough for Red Eagle. He was at peace with this brief earthly existence. At his funeral one after another of the Yuma area Native Americans stood to offer fervent testimonial to the memory of the deep, colorful man who was called Red Eagle.Gone. But not forgotten. And how could you forget a hulking man who could sing and play Okie From Muscogee asheart-felt as Merle Haggard, but do it wearing beads, a wide- brimmed hat with a big feather in the hat band and Indian leather moccasins on his feet? When Red Eagle's wife died ten years ago in Yuma, we sang and played at her funeral. Tears were in all of our eyes as we tried to struggle through a few gospel tunes. Red Eagle couldn't make it all the way through the funeral. When he tried to sing his dear wife Fay's favorite song he collapsed into a grief-ravaged heap at the foot of her casket. A good part of him died along with his wife that day ten years ago. Now he's joined her. God bless you, Red. We sure do miss you. But it's OK. We also know that, just like the title of that old Gospel tune, you've ----------------- --Gone Home Additional Comments: Robert is the son of John Isaac Colvin and Martha M. Benton. He was the husband of Levitha Fay and they are both buried in the Sunset Vista Funeral Home and Cemetery in Yuma Co. Arizona. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current Name: Robert R. Colvin Last Residence: 85356 Wellton, Yuma, Arizona Born: 6 Feb 1936 Died: 26 May 2010 State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (1953) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/yuma/obits/c/colvin9ob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/azfiles/ File size: 4.7 Kb