Robert Stokes Marable

Bob Marable

(Robert Stokes Marable)

May 11, 1934 – January 20, 2026

As family and friends mourn the passing of Bob and think about all the wonderful memories, he left us one more memory. This won’t surprise many of you because you know Bob loved to tell and write his stories-even his own obituary.

Bob passed away peacefully at Piedmont Athens Regional on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, as a result from complications from a fall doing what he loved-being outside walking for his health even as a rising senior at the young age of 91.

The following is his obituary as written by Bob:

By the time you read this obituary, my soul will be winging its way through the Milky Way, straight to the Pearly Gates of Heaven, to plead with Saint Peter for entrance into the heavenly land of eternal peace and tranquility. When Bob knocks on the Entrance Gate and Saint Peter places him on stand-by status to check out his credentials, Bob may look for a shady spot nearby under a Georgia Pine tree to rest his old soul while waiting for entrance into the Pearly Gates into Heaven. He might even think back to April of 1947 when at the young age of twelve (12), he was dunked and almost drowned by preacher-man Burton in the church baptism pool at the Ashley River Baptist Church in Saint Andrews Parish, Charleston, S.C. after Bob dedicated his life to Christ.

In the middle of America’s Great Depression, the journey of Bob’s life began at 6:00 a.m., on Friday, May 11, 1934, in a run-down sharecroppers four room shack located on the edge of his grandfather’s cotton field in the Bonetown Community, Farmington, GA. Dr. E. H. Kenimer, a Bishop physician, delivered him and then hearing a strong yell, his mama said to Dr. Kenimer, “He will be a good boy.” His father, Verne Marable and Bob’s older brother, Zed, were sitting on the front porch along with a couple of blue tick coon hounds when they heard the “all is OK” first cry. Verne gave Dr. Kenimer a sack of sweet potatoes and a smoked cured ham for his payment in full.

Bob’s first move out of Oconee County was in 1938 at age four (4). He and his family packed up their scanty belongings and moved to White Oak in Camden County, Georgia where his father had taken a job as the supervisor on the Drexel Plantation, a 3,000-acre hunting preserve and turpentine farming operation owned by the Drexel family from Philadelphia, PA. During his three-year stay in Camden County, he completed the first and second grades in the government school located in Woodbine, GA.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese war machine on December 7, 1941, Bob’s father moved the family back to Oconee County, GA to a rental house on Main Street in Bishop. His father trained to be an industrial electrician working with Roberts Electric Company in Athens. Bob matriculated at the Bishop government school for his third (3) grade education.

In 1943 Bob and his family loaded up their belongings onto a rental truck and headed to St. Andrews Parrish, Charleston, S.C. Upon arrival his father secured a job as an electrician in the Charleston Shipyard. The shipyard was under contract to build minesweeper class ships for the U.S. Navy. While living there, Bob completed fourth (4) through eighth (8) grades in the St. Andrews Parish government schools.

Upon the closing of the shipyard after WWII concluded, his father was offered a job as an electrician on a large construction site in Dougherty County, GA. Once again Bob and his family packed up and moved to Leesburg, Lee County, GA in 1948. After the construction job was finished his father told the family, “It’s time to head for home.” Bob’s family setup housekeeping in a rental house on the corner of High Shoals Road and Rays Church Road in the outskirts of Bishop, GA. In the fall of 1949 Bob registered for the tenth (10) grade at the Watkinsville High School located on School Street in Watkinsville.

A year later Bob’s father found a large rental house with indoor plumbing and more spacious rooms. Known as the old Bishop Hotel, the property was located across the railroad tracks from the Bishop Train Depot.

At age 17 Bob graduated from Oconee County High School in May of 1951 in a class of twenty-seven (27) classmates. After earning sufficient funds working as an apprentice electrician to cover a year’s tuition, he enrolled in the School of Arts and Science at the University of Georgia in January 1953, where he majored in drawing, painting, and ceramics in the Fine Arts Department.

In the spring of 1956, he set out to achieve success on his own as a professional artist. He leased a large flat above a shoe repair shop on the corner of Thomas and Clayton Street in downtown Athens. There he set up a painting studio, hung his shingle out as a professional artist, and began to amass paintings for a future exhibition in New York City.

Bob’s career as an artist was abruptly interrupted in July 1956 when he received a draft notice to report to the US Army Induction Center, Atlanta, GA for processing to fulfill a two-year active-duty requirement. After completing basic military training at Fort Jackson, S.C. he was assigned to the Army’s Medical Equipment Technician School, St. Louis, MO. Upon successful completion of the twenty-week (20) electrical technician training course, he was immediately assigned to the US Armed Forces Far East Command at Camp Otsu, Japan. His duty station was in a former Japanese Army Hospital that was converted into an U.S. Army hospital during the Korean War. It was there he met a lovely young Japanese lady, Yukiko Kimura. Bob and Yukiko were married in the US Embassy, Tokyo, Japan.

Bob and his new bride debarked from a chartered troop ship at Seattle, Washington. Bob was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington where he was discharged from his two-year military obligation. He and Yukiko flew to Georgia and set up housekeeping in a small rental house in Watkinsville in 1959 near the corner of Thrasher Drive and N. 3rd Street. Their first and only child, Robert Blane Marable was born at St. Mary’s Hospital, Athens, on 7 Jan 1959.

On Aug 3,1959 Bob began a thirty-four (34) year career in the industrial electrical wire and cable manufacturing business at the Anaconda Wire & Cable plant on Barnett Shoals Road. He eventually retired as plant operations manager on May 1, 1993. Recently, Bob was honored to be invited to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremonies of Wire Park which is the new beautiful complex of shops and restaurants within the redesigned building of the original Anaconda plant.

Upon retirement from the manufacturing business Bob became one of the several volunteers who established the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) in 1994 at the former site of the Oconee County High School on School Street in Watkinsville.

Bob was active in several business, professional, and service clubs in the Watkinsville – Athens area. Of special interest was his long-term service to the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce as a charter member and past president and to the Oconee County Rotary Club as charter secretary and past president for two terms.

After devoting countless hours as a full time volunteer at OCAF with the renovations of three of the old buildings and the daily operations of the not-for-profit institution from 1994 to 2006, he retired as a full-time volunteer and restarted his professional art business on property located on Lane Creek near High Shoals, GA. He and his wife Yukiko established a pottery business under the name of Yukiko Pottery and began to produce and market their functional and art pottery in Georgia. In 2017 Yukiko suffered from advanced Parkinson’s disease and it prevented her from producing pottery. Bob became her full-time caregiver ceasing his art business too.

After Yukiko’s passing on Friday, December 13, 2019, Bob continued to live in their High Shoals home with Yukiko’s faithful, beloved companion, a miniature Yorkie Terrier, named Yumi. Yumi, at age sixteen (16) died on January 21, 2022. Bob began to develop and promote a flower garden and grounds as a legacy to Yukiko. Negotiations with Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, Inc. were successful in making a bequest of his High Shoals property to the not-for-profit organization. OCAF has agreed to develop and maintain a garden with an Asian Japanese theme at OCAF’s School Street Studios and named Yukiko Memorial Garden.

Bob is preceded in death by his loving wife Yukiko Kimura Marable, his father, Andru Verne Marable, his mother, Mary Clair Barnett Marable, brother, William Zed (Bill) Marable and his wife Virginia (Ginny) Ramsey, and sister, Mary Verne Marable Watts, and husband William (Bill) Watts. He is survived by his son Robert Blane Marable, daughter-in-law, Judy Elaine Andrews Marable, granddaughter, Mary Ashley Marable Young, her husband Tim Young, and great grandsons, Caleb James Young, Landon Robert Young of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Additionally, Bob is survived by his brother Andru (Andy) Verne Marable II and wife Janice Lee Marable of Bishop, and a bushel basket full of nieces, nephews, and a bunch of cousins.

Bob extends an invitation to his kin folks, friends, and associates to a Celebration Party on Saturday, March 28 at 2 pm at Rocket Hall on the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) campus. Dress informally and food, drinks, and entertainment will be enjoyed recognizing the life of Bob. RSVP to Blane Marable at 706-202-4612 (text a message).

Bob does not plan to be at the celebration except in spirit and in a pile of fresh ashes contained in an old stoneware pot he made several years ago. He has thoroughly enjoyed his brief stay of 91 years on mother earth and suggests as a going away gift, in lieu of flowers, folks send a “big fat check “to his favorite non-profit, tax exempt, art organization, the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, PO Box 631, Watkinsville, GA 30677. Specify the money be used only for capital improvements on the three (3) old school buildings owned by OCAF.

Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, West, is managing arrangements. His ashes will be sprinkled on his grave site in the Marable Family plot, Bearden Cemetery, Colham Ferry Road, Watkinsville, GA in a private affair closing this old dude’s tenure on earth. Bob’s last wish before he sped away: “Now all you kinfolks, friends, and associates rock on, I will see you next time.”