Las Cruces Writers recently learned of the death of Bob Worthington, our long-time member, contributor, and a former president of the organization. Bob’s obituary will be a testament to his service to his country as a veteran Army officer who served in harrowing combat and published at least three award-winning volumes about his military service.
Bob was a font of interesting stories. One evening while on the phone discussing an upcoming LCW meeting, Bob mentioned that he had met Marylin Monroe and I prodded him for the details. It seems that when he was a teenager in Connecticut he delivered groceries to Ms. Monroe when she lived there during her marriage to Arthur Miller. He said she would perch in cigarette pants and an oversized man’s collared shirt, just like her image from the era, while he put the groceries away in the kitchen, chatting with him about nothing in particular.
I asked Bob if his exposure to the arts community that swirled around Miller at the time influenced him in his interest in commercial art as an undergraduate, but he didn’t see the connection there, instead suggesting that his early work in the studio of a yet-to-be-famous Alexander Calder might have been more influential. But that path then transformed into his long military service that he has written so extensively about.
May he rest in peace with thanks for his service to all of us—even Marilyn Monroe’s groceries.…