Robert Sheldon Laney

Robert S. Laney

September 9, 1932 – September 13, 2022

Robert (Bob) Laney was born on September 9, 1932 in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Eleanor Temple Laney and Leo Medina Laney. When Bob was two, his parents divorced. His mother later married Jack Smith, giving Bob his stepbrother (also named Jack Smith), and later, after becoming widowed, his mother married Ernest Haskins, giving Bob two stepsisters, Pat and Judy. Much later, in his sixties, Bob reconnected with his biological father’s family, meeting for the first time his half-brother Don Medina and wife Eileen from Parker, Colorado, and half-sister Bonnie Medina Sepulveda and husband Larry from Los Angeles, California. He loved all his brothers and sisters and was so happy to be welcomed with great warmth and love into the Medina family.

After his high school graduation, Bob enlisted in the Navy for four years. During his leave in San Diego in 1953, he met Leone Tyndale at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. They were married on June 25, 1955. Along with his beautiful new wife, he gained another brother, Clyde Tyndale.

After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Bob attended college in Colorado on the G.I. bill. He graduated in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in Math and soon afterwards earned his California Lifetime Teaching Credential. He and Leone moved to Pomona, California, where he taught math at Emerson Junior High School for seven years. In 1964, on a National Science Foundation grant, he spent a sabbatical summer in Iowa studying Modern Math. He earned a Master of Arts degree in 1965 at California State College at Los Angeles, and the following academic year participated in an Academic Year Institute in Mathematics at San Jose State College. He went on to earn further credentials in counseling, guidance, and administration. He and his family moved to Vista, California, in 1972, where he spent the remainder of his long career in school administration at Lincoln Junior High School, Washington Junior High School, Vista High School, and as Special Education Coordinator at the District office. He retired in 1994.

Bob and Lee have two daughters, Diana and Lynette. As a family, they enjoyed many summers of camping and backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountains, water skiing on lakes and the Colorado River, and a memorable summer in 1969 camping across the U.S. Their backyard pool was the scene of many happy summer days, and they spent several wonderful Christmas vacations skiing at Table Mountain and Mammoth Mountain.

Bob and Lee enjoyed many travels abroad. As chaperones with the Vista High School band in the 1980s, they traveled throughout Germany, Austria and Belgium. Over the years they also visited Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, Switzerland, England, Peru, the Galapagos Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Hawaii, and made friends on many of these trips.
They enjoyed camping in the Southern California deserts, mountains, and beaches for many years, especially with their dear friends Ron and Carolyn Richtmyer and Sandy and Ed Matheus, and with the RigRunners camping club.

Their grandchildren Jake and Chris (Diana’s boys), and Coral and Zack (Lynette’s children) also brought great joy to their lives. In 2002, they took another memorable cross-country motorhome trip with Jake and Chris, ages 11 and 9 at the time. Among the many stops and highlights, they visited the Grand Tetons, Mt. Rushmore, the Mall of America, Plymouth, Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Williamsburg Virginia, Orlando Florida, New Orleans, Houston Space Center, and Carlsbad Caverns, stopping in to see many friends and relatives along the way.
Bob was an accomplished musician. His daughters have many memories of he and his bride Leone playing duets on the piano in the living room. He played the French Horn in high school, playing it again in his retirement with the New Horizons community band.

Bob’s other hobbies included being a member of the Ski Patrol on Table Mountain in Wrightwood in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a member of the Masons of California, and Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge in Pomona in 1972. He was a member of the Optimist Club in Pomona, and the Kiwanis Club of Sunrise Vista. Bob also enjoyed golf, tennis, racquetball, and pickleball.
Bob lived a long, happy, and fulfilling life. He was a man of great faith, worshiping our Lord at Episcopal churches throughout his life; he and Leone have been members at St. Michael’s by-the-Sea for over twenty years. Despite health issues in his later years, he was always a cheerful, gracious man, and loved his family with his whole heart. He will be greatly missed.
Bob passed peacefully at home on Tuesday, September 13th, with his wife and daughters at his side. He is survived by his wife Leone; daughters Diana Bennett (Jim) and Lynette James (Stacy); brother Don Medina (Eileen) and sister Bonnie Sepulveda (Larry); step-sister-in-law Pat Smith; grandchildren Chris Bennett (Samantha), Coral James, and Zack James; great grandson Hartley Bennett; and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his stepsisters Judy and Pat, stepbrother Jack, and beloved grandson Jake Bennett.

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