08/19/1946 ~ 04/16/1995
To me, Robert Louis Juers was like a big party bear. Almost intimidating in his strength, he was still a relatively quiet, gentle & forthright guy. I didn’t see him a whole lot after he moved to California; I left Sacramento in 1990 to move back to NY, so I hadn’t seen him (that I recall) during the last 4-5 years of his life. I have very few pictures of him. But I’m in the midst of a massive photo organization project, so I think I can add to those that are here… Hopefully some of you have some? Please email them to me and I’ll add them!
Bob, as he was known, was born in a taxi cab in front of Radio City Music Hall, after his mother (Helen Malvina McGinley) went into labor during the grand opening of a show premiering that night. Bob, and his older brother Roy, were two amazingly gorgeous little kids as they grew up. Initially they lived in the Bronx, first on 165th Street then moving to the Clason Point neighborhood at 5 Murray Court, which doesn’t even exist anymore. When Bob’s dad (Harry Paul Juers) died in 1948, Bob wasn’t even 2 years old. Soon after Murray Court, his mom took Bob & his 5 brothers out to Oyster Bay, where they lived in a second-floor apartment of the Moore’s Building on East Main, where Theodore Roosevelt had summer offices. I’m told his mom cooked for the Roosevelts.
Not entirely sure what happened with Uncle Bob in high school & beyond. He did serve in the U.S. Army, as you can see from his portrait, though that was I think short-lived. Rumor has it he rolled a tank while on maneuvers, & he promptly decked his commanding officer for giving him too much grief about it. While that sounds comical, I don’t imagine it’d be good for an Army career.
He worked as an installer for Werner & Sons Windows & Insulation for awhile with my dad Ken, who was the GM. Dad & Uncle Bob were separated by almost 10 years, so Dad sort of fell into a fatherly roll, along with Uncle Harry. I don’t know if Dad was that way with Bob specifically, but after growing up & apart, I could tell they really enjoyed being together again every day & working together. Bob was a prideful craftsman in his work. I loved seeing him there (I worked there too) because he was my “cool uncle”. He was amazing on the grill too… I remember him doing onions wrapped in foil with butter salt & pepper & they were the greatest things ever, and I was young, so that impressed me. That was around the time he married Ruth.
Ruth was a great turning point for Uncle Bob, who has his share of hard times in life. Ruth had a son Michael, and Uncle Bob helped become the glue to solidify their family unit, much more than I ever knew, until now. Ruth and Michael have both reached out to me recently, which I’m grateful for. They both have some stories to share, and hopefully some photos too, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing them, and getting them online here.
Please bear with me on the photos. Something happened & I’m having trouble with the “in-line” gallery, so the pictures might zoom out to nothing when you hover over them. But just click on the first one, and a pop-up window should appear, where you can manually scroll through the pictures. This is a recently discovered problem affecting every page. So annoying; I put so much work into these galleries, for them to all of a sudden not be working correctly. As of 5/06/2025, I’m working on trying to resolve the issue. Thanks for your patience! Last Update: May 6, 2025
Please! We need more pictures if you have ’em!
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