Profiles of Life: Robert Siano

"When Robert was about 8 years old, we bought him a pair of walkie talkies for Christmas," his mother, Linda Siano, said from Robert's hometown of Morann, Pa. "We thought he had lost them and asked him about them. He pulled them out, and he had taken them all apart. He wanted to know how they worked.

"Well, he put them back together, and they worked. And he was doing that all his life."

Siano, 28, lived out his passion as a computer engineer at Tinker Air Force Base, where he worked as a civilian after leaving the service in 1997. He entered the Air Force in 1988 and saw several assignments before finishing at Tinker, where he met and fell in love with his wife, Stephanie, whom he married in 1998.

"Stephanie was the light of Robert's life," said Linda Siano. "They were a perfect couple and they were so happy together."

Robert, who lived in south Oklahoma City, will be remembered by friends for his endearing smile. His parents will remember him as a "good person who would do anything for anyone," even move them into the computer age.

"He was our personal computer technician," Linda Siano said. "He built our computer, and it was our life link to him, since we live so far away."

- John Helsley