You see, I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and as a kid in the 1970s every Saturday night my friends and I would watch our local horror host, Bob Wilkins, on channel 2. He’d play films like “Night of the Living Dead” (George Romero’s original zombie flick) to ‘cheese-factor 11′ flicks like “Attack of the Mushroom People.” However at the ripe old age of 8 much of the cheesy films were scary to us. Bob would also have local crazies on his show as well as Hollywood stars. One such “crazy” was a friend’s mom who had actually knitted a sweater for King Kong. No joke! This thing was huge. Anyway, that’s the kind of out of the ordinary, regular folk, Bob would feature on his show. He did things with a straight, dry wit, a strong sense of humor and even though he wasn’t a horror fan himself he did everything with the utmost respect for the genre. It was a very unique mix among horror hosts and one that has lived in the memories of all of us who grew up watching him.

During the past decade Bob would show up at horror and comic conventions and special movie screenings. It was a treat to actually meet him after all this time. Bob started suffering from Alzheimer’s and it got progressively worse (as it does). Anyway, he passed away yesterday…while I am glad he is no longer suffering it is very sad to know that he is no longer physically on this earth. Rest in peace, Bob. Even though we didn’t personally know each other you have always had a special place in my heart and were the one who kept me a horror fan. Cheers, buddy…