OBIT: Robert L. "Spuds" AUSTIN, 2002, native of Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA

  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Meyersdale Library
  Transcribed by John C. Oester.

  Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
  _______________________________________________ 
  
  ROBERT AUSTIN
  
  Robert L "Spuds" Austin, 87, a native of Meyersdale, died Jan. 1, 2002, in
  Hewitt, Texas.  Mr. Austin operated a barber shop on Main Street in
  Meyersdale for several years before enlisting during World War II in the US
  Army Air Corps, the predecesor of the US Air Force.  His childhood friends
  dubbed him "Spuds" because he tended the family's potato garden on High Street.
  After serving 28 years in the Air Force, Mr. Austin became an
  administrator for Texas State Technical Institure in Waco, Texas.  He
  retired from that position in 1979 and moved to Bradenton, Fla. with his
  wife, Edna.  He was a member of the Masons, the American Legion, the
  Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Bowling Congress. 
  He is survived by a daughter, Michelle McMahen of Hewitt, two sisters,
  Ethel Walsh of Pittsburgh and Mary Deeter of Bradenton; one brother, Bill,
  of East Palestine, Ohio, and one grandchild.
  Mr. Austin was buried Jan. 7 in Skyway Memorial Gardens in Palmetto,
  Fla.  Rev. Bill Hull presided at a graveside service that included a
  military honor guard and Masonic rituals. 
  
  Daily American March 8, 2002
  
  [A0467]