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Robert
Bowles Sale Jr.
was born in Ponca City, OK, to Robert and Florence Graham Sale.
Bob grew up in that city and graduated from high school where he was
captain of the baseball, basketball, and football teams and was
chosen Outstanding Athlete.
On Jul 5,
1950, Bob entered West Point with the Class of 1954. As a cadet, he
was outstanding in athletics, military activities, and academics.
During yearling year, Bob won the Buckner Stakes, a prodigious feat
as West Pointers know. He played baseball on “B” and “A” squads and
had also captained the plebe team. In First Class year, he was
Company Commander of M-1, an acknowledgment of leadership skills
that were demonstrated throughout his life. Bob ranked 46th out of
633 overall in the graduating class and was 6th in physical
education.
Commissioned
in the Corps of Engineers, Bob finished the basic course of that
branch and Ranger training and then married hometown sweetheart
Sherrie Harris, then a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. At
age 16, Sherrie had known, admired, and fallen in love with Bob and
on Dec 23, 1954, became his devoted wife in a marriage lasting 58
years. Following service with Engineer units at Fort Riley and in
Germany, Bob resigned from the Army in 1957, earned an MBA from
Harvard Business School in 1959, and later graduated from the
Stonier School of Banking at Rutgers University. Classmate Jerry
Lodge was with Bob at Harvard, and they remained close for many
years.
Banking
became Bob’s lifelong career, and he served in top management
positions in several Houston banks. Along the way, he started San
Felipe Bank and finished his career as Chairman of Compass Bank. In
the midst of that long and impressive career, Bob suffered a
traumatic gunshot wound during an attempted robbery of his home,
leaving him paralyzed below the waist at age 49. Bob dealt with that
hand with courage and without self-pity. His banking career was
interrupted only by immediate hospitalization and recovery, and his
professional example and advice before and after influenced the
careers of many highly successful Texas bankers.
Dedicated to
the Houston community, Bob served in many leadership and
fund-raising positions. He supported The Institute for
Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) and its foundation in several
ways: on the Board of Trustees, as fund-raiser, and as mentor of
patients at TIRR Hospital. In Bob’s name, the Endowed Scholarship
Fund for Spinal Cord Fellows is being established. Other religious,
charitable, and civic organizations benefited from his help, as did
the West Point Society of Houston.
Some of
Bob’s fondest memories were the times he spent with his sons and
friends enjoying sports and the outdoors in the brush country of
South Texas. Before his injury, Bob was active as a coach for his
sons’ baseball teams and participated in many parent-child tennis
tournaments at The Houston Racquet Club.
Bob is
survived by Sherrie, sons Jeff and Robby and their families, and his
sister Sally Hays. He embodied the ideals of West Point and was a
man of deep religious faith, both of which molded him for future
roles as husband, father, friend, and businessman. During his life,
Bob exhibited absolute integrity, unwavering faith, mental and
physical toughness in the face of adversity, and a calm demeanor.
In the
program for Bob’s memorial service, it is fittingly written: He
fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith.
— Family and
Classmates
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