Robert Christian Stentiford, Sr.

Robert Christian Stentiford Sr. 93, passed away March 29th 2021. Known to most as Bob or Papa, he was born May 11, 1927 in South Ozone Park, NY to the late Thomas Stentiford Sr. and Dorothy Madeline Stentiford. He was a WWII U.S. Army Veteran and later a craftsman of wood and finish carpenter.

He was preceded in death by his parents; Thomas and Dorothy Madeline Stentiford, brothers; Thomas Jr., and Leonard Stentiford, sisters; Dorothy St John, Irene Britton, and daughter; Nancy Stentiford. He is survived by his daughter Janette Ann Coffey; son, Robert Christian Stentiford Jr; son, William Paul Stentiford; four grandchildren, Christina Kaye Stentiford, Robert Christian Stentiford III, Tyler Michael Stentiford, and Devon Rose Stentiford.

Bob moved with his family back to England in 1932 at age five where he grew up and then volunteered for the US army along with his two brothers during WWII. When the war ended, he and his brothers came back to the US with their family to Elmont, NY where he joined the Carpenters Union in 1948. In 1951 he married Barbara Ann Sturm and they had four children together: Janette, Robert Jr, Nancy (deceased), and Paul.

In 1974, Bob moved to Florida where he resided for the remainder of his life. He was a man of many talents, a master woodworker, craftsman, artist, sculptor, inventor, and song writer. At the age of 77, he physically constructed his two-story home himself. Bob has painted numerous oil paintings closely resembling originals by Rembrandt. He also designed and built a 7 ½’ tall outdoor sculpture of a metallic dog named Silver. It was selected for two public art installation competitions in Sebring and then Lakeland, respectively, where it resided for one year at each location.

Always an innovative thinker, in 2016 Bob invented and patented, with his son Paul, a safety device for extension ladders known as the Sten Step. He also wrote an original Christmas song which was copyrighted and is still played by radio stations at Christmas time.

In the news of his passing, many friends and family have reached out describing Bob as; a true British gentleman, amazing, wonderful, kind, special, nice, charming, upbeat, happy, great stories, a genuine soul, adorable, sweet, precious, humorous, a dapper dan, fine man, radiant smile, cute, pleasant, loved, respected, delightful, awesome, true class, lovely, inspiring, cool, and was always spreading joy to others.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 3:00pm Wednesday April 7th, 2021 at Christ the King Anglican Church, 4440 SE 3rd Avenue, Ocala, with The Rev. Donald J. Curran, Jr. officiating.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of Marion County at the web address below:

www.hospiceofmarion.com/donate

352-854-5218

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