Lion Bob Hixson is a died-in-the-wool Duck fan despite being raised until age 10 in Seattle. Fortunately for us, he then moved to Eugene and has lived here nearly the rest of his life. From ’57 to ’59 he served in the army in a tank battalion. While taking coursework at the University of Oregon, he there met his future wife, Joan through a mutual friend. Although both Lion Bob and Joan had attended Eugene High School and knew a lot of each other’s friends, they had never really known one another until they met each other at UO.
The Hixsons have three children. Their oldest is a daughter who’s married to a Nike executive in Portland. Their middle son lives in South Carolina and works for an international conglomerate. Their youngest daughter is unmarried and lives in Elgin, Oregon.
Lion Bob used to own Eugene Moving and Storage Company. In 2003, he merged the local operation with Lile International and became their Eugene branch manager until his retirement in 2006. Since retirement Lion Bob has pursued a variety of part-time jobs. Most recently he was involved as part of the US Census effort.
His favorite hobbies and activities are golf, which he said is “almost a passion,” reading mystery novels, and gardening. He and Joan used to have cats and dogs, but he jokes that his youngest daughter has given him some “grand-horses”.
By his own admission Lion Bob and his wife have led a rather quiet life in Eugene. They did, however, at one time leave Eugene and go to the East Coast for three years. He feels that was a good and totally different experience. And he said it took quite a bit of commitment to get them to come back to Eugene. He and Joan have been to Europe and Hawaii. He said, “We kid ourselves and say that our winter vacation land is McArthur Court, because we watch so much basketball.” He donates regularly to the University and always has football and basketball tickets. He is not shy about expressing his support of the Ducks at Club meetings as he typically adds a “Go Ducks” postscript to our invocation.
Lion Bob was Club President from ’92 to ’93, and said that, during that time, he and his two co-chairmen put on the biggest membership drive the club has ever had. He sponsored three people into the club who are all good members. In addition, under Lion Bob's leadership the Environmental Services Committee was started headed by Lion Frank Alderson. Lion Bob said that the Committee's first effort was a highway beautification project which according to him fell flat (actually died out) because the plants were never watered. Fortunately the Committee persisted and today we have active projects at the Delta Ponds and the Pocket Park.
Asked why he became a Lion, Bob joked that his future father-in-law told him, “If you’re going to marry my daughter, you’ve got to join the Lions!” So he promptly joined in ’59. Since then he has been very active serving on many projects and committees.
