Currently serving term
09-01-10 through 09-01-13
Steve Bobb has 0 blog posts
Steven Lee Bobb Sr. was born April 7, 1949, the son of Faye Riggs,
daughter of Lena Norwest and Lewis Riggs Sr., and Wilson Bobb Jr., the
son of Wilson Bobb Sr. and Anne Thompson.
He was adopted and raised on his grandparent’s farm three-quarters of a
mile east of the Agency Store on state Highway 22 in Grand Ronde.
After his mother was killed in a car accident near Boyer on Highway 18,
he attended St. Michael’s Catholic School in Grand Ronde.
“For those who don’t know, it was a small three-room schoolhouse,” he
recalls. “When I was in the sixth grade, there were six kids in our
class.”
He also attended Grand Ronde Grade School and Willamina High School,
where he met his high school sweetheart, Connie, and they married on
Dec. 9, 1967.
In late 1968, Mr. Bobb, who comes from a strong military background,
enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. His uncle, Joseph Bobb, was killed in
action in World War II during the Normandy Invasion.
“I think not only for me, but for a lot of us here in Grand Ronde, it
was just understood that you would serve your country and do your duty,”
he said.
He attended Marine Corps training school in Quantico, Va., and also was
stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, where his oldest son was
born in 1969. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1970 and January
1971. He was selected for the Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership School
while in Vietnam.
He returned to Grand Ronde in 1971 to the remaining 1.5 acres of his
grandparent’s 240-acre farm that his grandfather saved for him upon his
return from the Marine Corps. His grandfather had sold the rest of farm
after his wife’s death in 1968. Bobb’s youngest son, Cory, still lives
on that piece of land today.
Bobb and his wife, Connie, have three sons – Steve Jr., Billy and Cory –
and, so far, 12 wonderful grandchildren. They live in Willamina.
He has spent the last 38 years in the sign and art business and started
his own business, Bobb Art and Design, in 1973. Today, he still runs the
business on a part-time basis and designed the West Valley Veterans’
Memorial that graces the Grand Ronde Tribal campus.
“I have, for the longest time, admired all of our Tribal Council members
for their commitment to helping our many Tribal members, which has
taken a lot of hard work and long hours, and once again thought that it
was my duty to serve when the time was right,” he said.
Mr. Bobb was elected to Tribal Council in September 2007.
“Having grown up in Grand Ronde, the landscape has changed because of
the hard work of our people,” he said. “And I am very grateful to those
people who fought to put us in this great position we all share today.
“I ran for Tribal Council because the time was right for me. I was
raised on hard work, being positive and that all people are good. So
let’s work together, take responsibility for ourselves and continue to
build on our success that so many worked so hard to give us.”