Robert “Bubba” Tuck

(Boys Ranch High School Class of 1988)

“Boys Ranch Alumnus Leads Happy Life in Maryland”

In August 2006, Elvis was sighted at Key Yacht Club in Baltimore. Boys Ranch alum Robert “Bubba” Tuck was impersonating the “King” during a talent contest that ultimately led to him being crowned “King of the Chesapeake.” As “King,” Bubba serves for a year as a goodwill ambassador for more than 100 yacht clubs on the bay to spread cheer and promote unity. Bubba is also a goodwill ambassador for Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. “I learned so much there,” he said. “Without the Ranch I’d probably be lost.”

Before his arrival at Boys Ranch, he was living in Southern California with his mother and grandmother. His family and friends called him Bob, and he admits that he thought he had it pretty good. “I was sheltered and catered to,” he said, “always getting my way.” His mother felt she needed help with her son, so in January 1984, Bob Tuck stepped off of an airplane in Amarillo, Texas, and spent the next four years and four months of his life at Boys Ranch.

Bob lived in Anderson Home with 23 other boys. He played football and wrestled, raised two hogs, and participated in Rodeo. He worked in the farm and ranch operation for two years, working with horses, feeding cows, moving irrigation pipe and bucking hay.

Bob has many fond memories of his time at Boys Ranch. In 1988, he was selected Best Actor at the district one-act play contest. He earned the Senior Hard Luck Cowboy award during the annual Rodeo after an injury knocked him out of the competition. He also remembers meeting several celebrities, including Tom Landry, Patrick Wayne, Drew Pearson and John McEnroe.

Bob graduated from Boys Ranch High School in 1988. He joined the Army and arrived at his first duty station in Berlin, Germany soon after the Berlin Wall fell. Bob learned quickly that the world is a small place.

“Halfway around the word I bumped into another Boys Rancher, Orville Larkin, Jr.,” Bob said. “We became inseparable. He was military police; I was infantry.”

During his brief time in Germany, Bob visited World War II sites. One of those sites made a major impact on him. “Auschwitz will change your life forever,” he said. “It was emotional.”

Bob’s unit returned to Ft. Carson, Colorado, where he remained for 3 ½ years. He re-enlisted in 1993 and spent one year in Korea near the North Korean border. Bob ended his military service at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. While there, he met and fell in love with Beth, a school teacher. Beth’s family belonged to the Bush River Yacht Club. Bob grinned as he recalled the unspoken rule that in order to marry Beth, he had to earn the blessing of Beth’s immediate family and her “Bush River family,” as well. They were married in 1996 and a year later Bob was honorably discharged from the Army.

Following his departure from the Army, Bubba remembers that times were rough. “I had a hard time finding my niche,” he said. But he credits his friends at the yacht club and his wife for helping him through. “I learned in marriage to pull together when times are bad,” he said. “Marrying Beth is the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. I don’t know what I would do without her.” Bubba is employed at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where he tests Army equipment. “We try to find faults in equipment so that a soldier doesn’t have to,” he said. “And I’m still supporting my country.”

Bubba and Beth continue to enjoy spending time at Bush River. “The people at Bush River are my second family,” he said. Bubba is grateful for the second chance Boys Ranch gave him 20 years ago and the lessons he learned while living there. “The Ranch teaches responsibility, how to get along with others, and to take pride in your work,” Bubba said. “My goal is to keep on learning and to become a better person.”