Robert Earl Hilburn

January 9, 1943 - September 20, 2021

Robert Earl Hilburn, a longtime resident of Maplewood Subdivision in Abita Springs, LA died unexpectedly on Monday, September 20, 2021, in Covington, LA.

He was born on January 9, 1943, in Tuscaloosa, AL to the late Leo Hilburn and Dorothy Robertson Hilburn. Robert was married to the love of his life, the late Cheryl McGuffey Hilburn, for 52 years. He joined her in heaven exactly one month after her passing.

He was the loving father of Amy Hilburn Robinson, Christie Hilburn Kolb (Clayton), Shelley Hilburn Peak (Rodney), Bree Singleton and Freddie Mack Kinard (Darlus). Robert was the proud grandfather of 11 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren on the way. He was the brother to Thomas Hilburn (Mary Lee) and Marian Hazlip (Kirk). He will be missed by numerous family members and friends.

Robert proudly served his country in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and afterwards received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech University. He started his working career with the Walmart Corporation and was proud to have opened some of the first Walmart stores in Arkansas. In 1972 Robert and his family moved to Louisiana and started his surety career. He retired from CAN Surety in 2008 after spending 36 years in the business. Upon retirement, Robert and Cheryl took many trips in the 5th wheel camper visiting family and friends, and he especially enjoyed his weekly Popeye's Chicken lunch with his close friend, Larry Lloyd.

Due to Covid-19, social distancing is encouraged, and masks are required to attend services. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service at First Baptist Church Covington Chapel, 16054 Murphy Road, Covington, LA 70433 on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at 2:00 pm with visitation on Thursday beginning at 12:00 pm until service time. Interment will follow services in Abita Springs Cemetery, 12th & St. John Street, Abita Springs, LA 70420. E. J. Fielding Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. The family invites you to share thoughts, fond memories, and condolences online at E. J. Fielding Funeral Home Guest Book at www.ejfieldingfh.com.

Robert Wrote 12/13/2018:

Since I will be 76 years old on 1/9/19 and will have been married to the same girl for 50 years on 6/20/19, I feel it's time to do the "long version " of my EHS61 Bio.

Without a doubt, football was my passion all through high school. It started in jr. high when my dad would come out and watch me practice and then we'd go home and he'd show me how he played the position when he was in high school. I also wanted to fly and always saw myself as an Air Force pilot during my early years. I even joined the Civil Air Patrol and met on Tuesday nights and Sunday Afternoon at the local airport. I learned a lot about the Air Force while in high school which helped me later in college and the Air Force.

All through high school, when I was not playing football, I had a New-Times paper route before school. That paper route helped pay for two Cushman Eagle motor scooters I got around town on over the years. When I was a senior, my before school job was answering the phone at the News-Times office. Subscribers could call into the office when they filed to receive a paper and one would be sent out. I was sponsored by the News-Times when I attended Arkansas Boys State my junior year.

The spring I graduated from high school, I got a flagman's job working on the Calion Highway widening project for Reynolds and Williams Construction Co. It was that summer that I decided I wanted no part of the construction business. I did enjoy visiting the girls I flagged down on their way to Calion Lake. That construction experience became beneficial to me in later years.

At summer's end, my family moved to Ruston, LA and I enrolled in La Tech along with many of my former classmates. I tried to go out for football as a "walk on" but I was just too small. La Tech was an extension of high school for me. I lived at home and rode my scooter to class. I remember my first semester at Tech cost me $49.00. I took AFROTC classes and got on their drill team. My sophomore year I was promoted to Color Guard Commander. We marched in local parades, at football games and even at Mardi Gras in New Orleans one year. The first two summers at Tech, I worked in the oil and gas field driving a truck for Halliburton Co. Lee Roy Mc Han and I roomed together one of those summers in Haynesville, LA.I remember Lee Roy was a lot of fun to room with.

My junior year, I got tired of college. And we were starting to see a lot of news about Vietnam. I decided I might as well join the service and get my obligation behind me and I'd go back to school on the G. I. Bill. That's what I did. I joined the Air Force in March of 1964. I tried to join the Army. I wanted to fly helicopters but they were not looking for pilots in those days. As it turned out, and as I look back on it, our Lord was really looking out for me.

While in the Air Force, I spent two years in Kansas and two years in Michigan. I was stationed on SAC bomber bases. In those days, we were still fighting the Cold War. During those four years, I had a very secure job as an Inventory Management Specialist. The Air Force was a very enjoyable four years of my life.

As planned, I went back to La Tech in the spring of 1968. I managed to miss the exciting times of the Vietnam War altogether. That August, while attending La Tech, I met my future wife, Cheryl McGuffey. We were married that next June, 1969. Soon after we were married, I left Tech again and we moved to Florida to help my parents get their small business started. Cheryl and I actually had a one year honeymoon while in the process. We decided I needed to finish college so we moved back to Ruston in June of 1970. Cheryl taught school and I worked part-time at the Safeway grocery and drew my G.I Bill benefit. Boy did we feel wealthy at that time. I finally graduated in the spring of 1971.

After graduating, I interviewed and got a Trainee/Assistant Manager job at the local Wal-Mart store in Ruston. It was at that time, the 23rd store in the growing Wal-Mart chain and the only one in LA. While in the Ruston store, I helped open the first Idabel, OK and Conway, AR stores. In July of 1972, I was promoted and transferred to Paragould, AR as an Assistant Manager. While there, I helped open the first Jonesboro, AR Wal-Mart. In those days, I was known by Mr. Sam Walton because we met at so many new store openings. He was not the legend at that time as he is now. It was in Paragould that Cheryl got pregnant with our first child. At that time I saw my future with Wal-Mart as traveling to and setting up new stores around the states and thus being away from Cheryl and our first child too much. The Company was growing really fast. In September of 1972, we said good by to Wal-Mart and we moved back to Ruston.

After returning to Ruston, I learned that the Commercial Union Insurance Company's Regional Office in Ruston had an opening in their Bond Department. Thanks to my college degree, I got the job as a trainee. Over the seven years there, I worked up to Regional Bond Department Manager. We wrote bond accounts for independent insurance agents in AR, LA and MS. Contractors are required to provide performance and payment bonds along with their contract on public work. It was during this time that our three daughters were born. It was in the summer of 1979 that Cheryl and I decided we needed a change. With an Assistant Manager's job with CNA Surety in New Orleans in hand, we left CU and Ruston and moved to Mandeville, LA.

I was promoted to Manager of the Department about a year after taking the new job. My office handled the surety bond needs of some of the largest highway and building contractors in our three state territory. I was elected President of the LA Surety Association in 1999. Industry associations afforded Cheryl and me the opportunity to travel to many cities across the US for conventions and meetings. We even spent one week in London, England at company expense while I met with Underwriters at Lloyds of London. I retired in 2011 after 39 years in the surety business.

One of my family's most challenging experiences came in August 2005. Hurricane Katrina made a direct hit on New Orleans and came very close to our home in Mandeville. We survived any major damage to our home but we were without electricity for 15 days. We survived by living out of our 5th wheel camper and a small generator. Cheryl cooked meals for our returning neighbors on a Coleman stove under our carport. Even though we did not have damage to our home, we did lose our beloved pine trees.

Currently I do not fish as much as I would like. Since Cheryl's retirement, we have focused on traveling as much as possible with our latest 5th wheel camper. And we plan to travel together as long as we can. Our children are grown and we see our grandchildren as often as we can. We feel they have their lives to live and we are enjoying ours with travel and with friends. We will do this for as long as we can.

Robert Hilburn