Rev. Robert B. Haight 8/2/1950 - 8/3/2011 The Rev. Robert B. (Bob) Haight died suddenly in his Solon, IA home after a valiant 3 ½ year battle with a rare form of thyroid cancer. He grew up on a farm northeast of Waterloo, IA, the son of Lee G. and Marjorie May Haight, and attended high school in Denver, IA. He was the beloved husband of Rev. Emily S. (Demme) Haight, Ph.D. of Houston, TX for 34 years, and the devoted father of David L. Haight (Megan) of Dallas, TX and Daniel B. Haight of Solon. He is survived by two sisters, Marilyn Haight of Minneapolis and Marty Kajewski (Bill) of Oelwein, IA.; and one brother Richard Haight (Janis) of Waterloo, IA. He will be greatly missed by 10 nieces and nephews and many extended family members. Bob graduated with a B.S. degree in chemistry from Iowa State in Ames and with a Master of Divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL in 1975. He worked as a psychiatric technician at Evanston Hospital before entering the United Methodist ministry in 1977. He served as a dedicated parish pastor of churches in Wilmette, Sheridan and Norway, Evanston, Elmhurst, Ingalls Park (Joliet), Oak Forest, and Orland Park, IL for a total of 34 years. He was a consultant in the use of computers for church administration and electronic media for contemporary worship. He was known for training church secretaries in computer skills (who often moved on to find more lucrative employment). One of his joys was collecting and displaying over 400 1/64th scale toy tractors. He kept them all catalogued on an Osborne I computer that was older than the one on display at the Smithsonian Museum. Bob was especially loved by children and enjoyed relating to them during baptisms, in Bible School, in confirmation classes, in children's sermons, and on Boundary Waters Canoe camps. He also coached a boys' soccer team for two years. He was the French horn section in high school, played guitar, sang in choirs all his life, and introduced many contemporary hymns, sometimes over the objections of his congregations! Missing an issue of The Christian Century magazine or an episode of "This Old House" was clearly against his religion. He used the carpentry skills he saw on that show to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in Joliet. He dedicated many hours of study to be a well informed member of the United Methodist conference Board of Pensions and the Board of the United Methodist Ministries Credit Union for 10 years. He also served for several years on the Board of the Southwest Interfaith Team (SWIFT) which worked to promote understanding among Christians, Jews and Muslims in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. He always looked forward to traveling to the Haight family reunions held every 3 years. His life and ministry will also be celebrated at Faith United Methodist Church in Orland Park, IL on Saturday, Aug. 27th at 11 am with visitation beginning at 10 am. Memorial contributions honoring his values and interests may be made to Garrett-Evangelical Seminary, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Habitat for Humanity, or Bread for the World.