Obituary of Robert Adrian Viel

Robert Adrian Viel, 83, passed away unexpectedly on August 2nd at his home in Lodi, California. Robert is a life-long Californian, Marine Surveyor, world traveler, yachtsman, sailor, gardener and many other wonderful things. Robert was born October 2, 1939. He joined the Navy and sailed the vast ocean; his love for the ocean took him on many, many voyages including Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Africa and Acapulco just to name a few. Robert loved people and hearing their stories about life, where they were from and where they’ve traveled and where they were going for their next destination. If you passed him walking the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, surely you were stopped by him and swapped great stories.

He bought a home and settled in Lodi where he enjoyed working in his garden, riding his bike, and making many friends. He was a problem-solver who took on many and unwanted projects at work and around the house. He was a spiritual man and loved learning about all religions. Robert will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him. 

Robert is survived by his five children, Raymond Viel, David Viel, Laura Duncan (Joseph), Bruce Viel, and Eric Raguenez (Sarah); grandchildren, Erin Gallegos-Gonzales (Joe), Amber Gallegos, Joseph Viel, and Evans Raguenez; daughter-in-law, Annette Viel-Taormina. He was preceded by his parents Adrian Viel and mother Edith Viel, sister Mary Ann Viel, and beautiful granddaughter Nicole Viel and great grandchild Marcus Dureault.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 12th at Lodi Funeral Home, 725 S. Fairmont Ave., in Lodi, with a reception further honoring Robert’s life to follow. A graveside service with military honors will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 16th at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd., in Dixon.

The people you love become ghosts inside of you and like this you keep them.

- Author Unknown

But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as a man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something that called -- called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come.

-Jack London, The Call of the Wild

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as el mar which is masculine. They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy. But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.

- Ernest Hemingway

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.

- Ernest Hemingway