Rest in Peace: Robert V. Barlow (1921 – 2012)

Robert Virgil Barlow passed away in his sleep on Tuesday, Nov. 20, at his home on Marilla. He was born on Jan. 28, 1921, in Arcadia, Calif., to Virgil and Martha Barlow, and was the youngest of two sons.  Barlow was raised on a dairy farm, where taking care of the cows and delivering milk was a way of life.  But flying was his real passion, and he pursued that at the earliest age the regulations would allow.  He towed banners and was the youngest flight instructor at Monrovia airport where he was employed in the late 1930s.

Robert Virgil Barlow passed away in his sleep on Tuesday, Nov. 20, at his home on Marilla. He was born on Jan. 28, 1921, in Arcadia, Calif., to Virgil and Martha Barlow, and was the youngest of two sons.  Barlow was raised on a dairy farm, where taking care of the cows and delivering milk was a way of life.  But flying was his real passion, and he pursued that at the earliest age the regulations would allow.  He towed banners and was the youngest flight instructor at Monrovia airport where he was employed in the late 1930s.

Four days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, he quickly married his high school sweetheart Jerry Hotz and they remained together until she passed away in 1993.

Barlow flew for the civil service, delivering aircraft within the US and Canada, at the beginning of the war because he was still too young to join the Army Air Corp.  When he was old enough he served until the end of World War II.  In that period he flew a long list of aircraft from the smallest of fighters to the largest of bombers.  But his favorite aircraft during the war was the P-38 Lightning, a twin-engine fighter that the German Luftwaffe nicknamed the “fork-tailed devil.” Ironically he never served in Europe, but spent a lot of time “flying the hump” (the Himalayas) from India to China carrying fuel and supplies to support the war effort in the south Pacific.  He also ferried (delivered) aircraft to locations outside the US.  This included one hazardous volunteer mission, for which he was decorated, flying with eight other P-38s from California to the western Pacific.  He loved to relate that on that trip they stopped for refueling on Christmas Island, on Christmas day, 1942.  He had duty in the United States as well, and when he wasn’t ferrying brand new B-29s out of Kansas, he was a flight instructor in Long Beach, California.

After the War he continued to follow his passion for flying.  In 1947 Barlow and Jerry moved to Costa Rica where he flew a small single-engine amphibian aircraft spotting tuna for a large canning company.  A few years later they moved to Bermuda where he was based with a small airline, and where by then they had a son, Alan, and daughter, Robin.  In the early 1950s they moved to Long Beach and he was hired by the Flying Tiger Line, a fright airline, where he remained for the next 20 years.

In 1956 they bought a small summer cottage on Eucalyptus, and enjoyed a beautiful summer there.  When September came the family unanimously decided not to return to Long beach and remained on the island.  That was the beginning of a Barlow family love affair with Catalina, which lives on today.

In 1981 Barlow took over management of the Golf Gardens miniature golf course and it ran until 2009 when the Island Company took over the operation.  Most people reading this probably know Barlow mostly for the many hours of enjoyment that they experienced there.  He seemed happiest when families were enjoying themselves in the peaceful setting of the course, and when children would look for and pet the dogs and cats that were often sleeping in the open window of the office.

Barlow was a loving father, grandfather, and great grandfather, a caring provider, and a lover and protector of animals and all life.  He is survived by his son Alan and daughter Robin; her husband George; three grandchildren, Matthew, Daniel and Tyler Michelle; and two great grandchildren.

His wish was for a private family memorial internment. The family requests that any donations be made to the Catalina Island Humane Society.