Bobby Tucker; Longtime Resident, Military Man

Bobby E. Tucker, a Camarillo resident for 30 years, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

A doting father and a coffee-shop regular, Tucker was born Feb. 9, 1932, in Leaksville, N.C. After military service bumped him from North Carolina to Rhode Island, Japan and Nevada, he was assigned to Ventura County. Tucker served 20 years in the Navy Seabees and the Army. After retiring, he became a heavy-equipment operator at the Point Mugu Navy base, a job he held for 20 years.

His daughter, Caroline Dishman of Camarillo, remembered her father as a caring and funny man with a passion for gardening and landscaping.

“He just spoiled us all rotten,” she said of herself and her brother. “Whatever we wanted, we got. . . . He was dearly loved by his family and friends. He’ll surely be missed.”

Tucker was no stranger to tall tales, his daughter said. Every day, he would gather with his coffee-shop buddies and hang out. “Usually, it was about who could tell the best lie,” said Dishman, a resource specialist at Point Mugu.

Tucker is survived by his daughter, Dishman; a son, Roy Tucker of Camarillo; a sister, Betty Warren of North Carolina; and three grandchildren. His wife, Tomiko, died nine months ago.

A visitation will be held between 1 and 3 p.m. Thursday in the Chapel of the Islands at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park, 2052 Howard Road in Camarillo. Burial will follow.