Bob also retired in that year and turned full time to historical research, writing, consulting, and speaking. He married his second wife, Melody Webb, who became his lifetime partner, best friend, and professional colleague for the next 43 years. In 1980 a momentous shift occurred in Bob’s life. Then on evenings and weekends he researched and wrote history of the American West.

Five days a week he was proud to be a Washington bureaucrat-his definition was that a good bureaucrat makes good things happen and prevents bad things from happening. Bob essentially had two simultaneous and very different careers. After moving to Washington as Chief Historian, he played a key role in the development of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. In 1956 he shifted his career as historian to the National Park Service as Regional Historian of the Southwest Region in Santa Fe for 7 years. He left the Army as a captain but continued to serve the military as a civilian. He joined the Army in 1952, graduating with honors from Officers Candidate School where he became a tactical officer then was assigned as historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. After getting his bachelor degree from Purdue and masters from Indiana University, Bob started a career that fused his dual love of military history and national parks into a highly illustrious career as a historian of western history. He spent six summers during college years as a park interpreter at Custer Battlefield National Monument, which steered him into western history. His interest in the West and military history was initially sparked by a fascination with George Armstrong Custer at the age of 12, when he watched Errol Flynn portray the general in the movie They Died with Their Boots On. All of Bob Utley’s life, he loved the American West, its history, its beauty, and its natural and historic places. Utley, 92, distinguished author and historian, gently passed away on Jin Scottsdale, AZ. It is with deep sadness we announce that Robert M.

Billy the Kid by Robert M. Utley