Robert A. Lamana

Robert ?Bobby? Lamana came into the world as a lion on January 3, 1944 and left like a lamb on June 27, 2010. Born in Rockville Centre, New York to Marie and Anthony Lamana, he spent his formative years wreaking havoc on the eastern shore. He studied drafting and worked as a construction foreman until he started a business as a co-owner of Friends Saloon in Rockville Center, New York. Fate and fortune brought him to the Rockies in 1979. He opened another version of Friends Saloon in Old Town Fort Collins, introducing the west to the dangers of Pernod ?three shots and you?re out of here?. After closing Friends Saloon in 1988, he worked for Larimer County Youth Safe and, later, the Jacob Center, and Food Services at Colorado State University. He loved working with kids and college students. He often said he learned more from them than they could ever learn from him. After arriving in Colorado, he played softball with several men?s teams. He formed the infamous Swiners, a wild team that lives on even to this day as the coed Swine Dogs softball team. A consummate sports fan, Bobby loved basketball and waited with baited breath each year for March Madness to roll around. Whatever he did, he did with a fun-loving spirit. His golf game inspired laughter when he would occasionally wrap an offending wood around his head in retaliation for a bad shot it had delivered. As a long-standing league pool-player, Bobby had several years in logging the greatest number of 10s and table runs. He mastered the art of head games and could easily draw his opponents into a one-sided match. While he had his ornery moments, Bobby was truly the most loving, kind, and gentle person anyone could hope to know. His accepting nature always looked for the best in people. When he loved, he did it unconditionally. His spirit will be carried on through the legacy he left through his contact with people in his personal life, in his work at the Jacob Center, and at CSU. He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Kay Rios, who feels a great void in her life with his passing. He is also survived by his step-children, Shawn Rios and Eric Mead of Snowmass Village, Augustine Rios Jenna Milliron of Denver, and step-granddaughter, the Princess Ariana Nava Bighorn Rios of Denver, and by his life-long friends and unofficially adopted daughters, Lisa Moore LaPorte, Jennifer Yard, Beacon, NY, and unofficially adopted grandchildren, Josh Moore Jenny, Jeremiah Moore, and Lacy Moore. A Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at the Foothills Unitarian Church, 1815 Yorktown Avenue Drake and Yorktown, Fort Collins. A celebration of Bobby?s life will follow at the Sunset Event Center, 242 Linden, in Old Town. Memorial Contributions may be made in Bobby's name to Pathways Hospice in care of Bohlender Funeral Chapel, 121 W. Olive St., Fort Collins, Colorado 80524.