La Mesa American Little League

Our community lost someone very special on Wednesday November 20th 2013. Bob Bouchard, long time volunteer at Chollas Lake Little League, our dear friend passed away. I know Bob is in a better place and with his loved ones, but there are those he left behind. I know that I and probably many others are not feeling like celebrating right now, but there are many things to celebrate about Bob's life. I want to take a moment to say thank you to Bob for what he meant to the community and to my family. 

Bob was different things to different people, to me he was the epitome of a selfless volunteer that made a difference in kids lives, not for a few years, but for over 50 years. Bob's approach to umpiring was: Know the rules, get the rules and the calls right, make it as fun for the kids as possible, and get a bowl of Chili after the game and talk about the game while eating his chili. When I would talk to the players about Bob it was clear that they felt better about the game and themselves when he was umpiring. 

Bob loved to tell stories, so I will tell one of Bob that was a couple of years ago. We were honoring Bob at Chollas Lake with District 33 umpires, Sue Botos from the Padres, Reggie Waller, and past players and coaches all in attendance. We had a declaration from the City making this "Bob Bouchard Day" in San Diego, March 3rd 2012. The declaration was presented by Councilwomen Marti Emerald. Bob told one of his stories about when he was umpiring and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. When the ceremonies were coming to an end Bob was going to help with the first pitch of the year to open the season. We were going to have Bob call one more strike. We had Sue Botos from the Padres and Reggie Waller throwing out the first pitch. Bob said he would rather throw out the first pitch than call it as an umpire. I let Bob know that I really would like to see him call one more strike and he graciously agreed. He got behind the catcher, the first pitch was thrown. Bob stands up out of his crouch and says I can't do it, I can't call that a strike it was a ball. To his very last call as an umpire he felt he had to get it right!

Tye Waller told a group of District Administrators that kids won't always remember what a great coach taught them, but they will always remember how they made them feel. That is the perfect description of Bob, the kids won't always remember what the call was or what he said, but they remember on Thursday nights Bob and Richard made them feel great!

Thank you Bob for being our friend, our mentor, and our guide. I missed having you up at the fields every Thursday, I missed putting on the uniform and being out on the field with you, I will miss the times you came up to visit. I feel better knowing that you will be able to get together with Dick and you will make that strike call that I so selfishly wanted to see. I know that you will be umpiring in heaven with Dick, because without the chance for you to umpire again, it would not be heaven.

So this is not goodbye, but rather a pause until we meet on the big Diamond in the Sky!