(Attended Montpelier Schools)
Veteran
Madison, WI – Robert William Lockhart, age 94, passed away at his home on Monday, February 26, 2024.
Bob was born on May 27th, 1929, in Montpelier, Ohio. He was the son of Victor and Helen (May) Lockhart.
Bob attended Montpelier Grade School and Montpelier High School. While in High School he worked during school breaks in his father’s haberdashery, Lockhart, and Kizer Haberdashery on Main Street.
He mowed eight lawns in the summer, shoveled snow in the winter, and did other odd jobs. He graduated from high school in 1947.
Bob knew he wanted to be an architect at a very young age. He attendedDenison University in Granville, Ohio, later transferring to the University of Michigan’s School of Architecture and Design in Ann Arbor.
He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean “conflict,” and had his basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas. He was selected to be in The Army Security Agency simply because he could type.
He was sent for 13 months to ASA Europe (ASAE) in Frankfurt, Germany. He found this to be a great experience because of his on-going interest in architecture. He visited eight countries and was in London to for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation parade.
After discharge, He finished his four-year program at the University Of Michigan, graduating in 1956 with a BA in architecture. Wanting to work with families, he chose not to apply to the American Institute of
Architects (AIA).
While in school, he met an SAE fraternity brother, Roger Peters, who had a home design and construction business in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They began working together with Roger as “the
builder” and Bob as “the designer.”
Another friend introduced Bob to architect Herbert Fritz. He and his family lived, and worked, at Hilltop. Hilltop was across from the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hillside School near Spring Green, WI.
Mr. Fritz and his father both had apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin near Spring Green. Bob apprenticed under Mr. Fritz for almost two years before branching out on his own.
In 1962, Bob moved to Madison and started work on his first commission, in his apartment/office on University Avenue above Sam’s Bakery. He worked alone from 1962 until his retirement in 1994.
Bob met his soul mate Clarence Cameron in 1961, and they were partners for 63 years. They were legally married in Vermont in 2013 at an art exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists, of which Clarence is a
member. This was just months before the U.S. Supreme Court made same sex marriage legal across the nation.
His partner, Clarence, was also self-employed as an artist. Known as ” The Owl Man” he is renowned for his soapstone and bronze owls, and his co-founding of the Wisconsin Alliance Of Artists and Craftspeople, Inc. and the Madison Art Fair OFF the Square.
Bob enjoyed going to art fairs with Clarence and meeting other artists, and the patrons. They both
enjoyed classical music and attended the symphony and other musical events in Madison throughout their lifetimes.
As self-employed people, both Bob and Clarence worked hard, but they did find time to go to Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Florida, Arizona, and Hawaii. They also did a lot of traveling in the United
States, exhibiting at art fairs, making many friends along the way.
In addition to Clarence, survivors include nieces: Laura (Mark) Scheidt, Glendale Heights, IL, and Jennifer Michael, Saratoga, CA; nephew, Thomas (Carol) Ullman, High Point, NC; an aunt, Ruby Lockhart, Bryan, cousins, James (Suzanne) Lockhart, Huntington Beach, CA and Eugene (Suzanne) Lockhart, Seattle, WA, and numerous great-nieces and nephews.
He was preceded by his parents; sister, Jean, and cousin Lynn Lockhart Wallace.
Clarence would like to thank Bob’s medical team at the VA Hospital and Agrace Hospice Care. He would also like to thank the many friends and neighbors who have supported and assisted them over the past several years.
In lieu of flowers memorials can be sent in his name to the Madison Symphony Orchestra, 222 W. Washington Ave. Suite 460, Madison, WI 53703 or to the ” Agrace Foundation”, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Madison, WI 53711.
A celebration of Life is being planned for April 6, 2024 in the Landmark auditorium of the First Unitarian Society 800 University Bay Dr Madison, WI. Interment will be at a later date in the Victor and Helen Lockhart burial site in Riverside Cemetery, Montpelier, Ohio.
