| This article is about the Novel Series character. You may be looking for his appearance in the Comic Series or his Road to Survival, Survivors, or TV Series counterparts. For other pages with the same name, see: Bob |
| “ | For about two weeks forty goddamn years ago! I can't do shit.
―Bob to Bruce about his service in the military in response if he can save Brian from dying.[src]
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” |
Bob Stookey is a comic-adapted main character first encountered in The Road to Woodbury. He is the local town drunk of Woodbury and a former corpsman for the Marines. After the death of Dr. Stevens, Bob becomes the town's medic and finally gets off alcohol, having found a purpose.
Pre-Apocalypse[]
Vicksburg, Mississippi[]
Originally from Vicksburg, Bob was born on August 9th, 1953, grew up dirt-poor, and his deeply religious parents abused him as a kid. His mother, Delores, used to call him "Bobby" and would use the word "grace" to tell him that people can find grace among misery because God made us in his image.
Slidell, Louisiana[]
During his adolescence, he and his family moved to Slidell. In his teenage years, his libido increased to driving him horny as usual, having wet dreams, and frequenting the Bottoms Up Gentlemen's Club.
As an adult, he developed an abiding hatred of evangelists that colored his every thought. But he kept up his faith in Christianity as his conception of who God is and how busy He must be. He married Brenda at some point, but they later tried to divorce. However, it was going sour and had a lot to do with, leading him to sign up for the U.S. Marine Corps.
San Antonio, Texas[]
He joined the army and received a few months of training as a hospital corpsman in Fort Sam Houston during boot camp, barely making it out due to his drinking. He learned brief instructions on how to be a medic, such as basic first aid, a little CPR, and the rudiments of trauma care - but not a professionally skilled. Despite that, he was well-versed in basal chemistry and pharmacology, knowing several scientific knowledge.
Kuwait[]
By August 2nd, 1990, at age 36, he was deployed in the first Gulf War (codenamed Operation Desert Shield) for two weeks. As Hospital Corpsman First Class, Bob Stookey served a single tour with the Sixty-Eight Alpha company as a glorified ambulance—and at least once armored personnel carrier (APC)—driver and a battlefield medic. He ran the ambulance units up and down Highway 8 between Baghdad and Kuwait City. His medic job was a nickel's worth as it didn't heal any soldiers and only kept wounded victims breathing—or the circulatory system intact—until they could move to a mobile surgical unit.
He was one of the older enlisted men at war and became somewhat of a Dutch uncle to the youngsters around him. He had a knack for keeping the boys entertained with lousy jokes and nonregulation sips from his ever-present flask of Jim Beam. He also had a soft heart—the grunts loved him for that—and he died a little bit every time he lost a marine.
During his service, he saw a soldier choose the battlefront over a behind-the-line job to avoid the tight quarters of the Quonset hut office. Some Delta Force members who used to patrol the streets of Kuwait City teased him by pushing him around and pulling rank on him all the time they encountered him. Still, he was secretly glad and relieved they were there. He witnessed many horrors throughout the war: shrapnel-riddled bodies he patched, a local prostitute-disguised insurgent gal who committed suicide via IED at his APC, etc. He also started to suffer impotence after being injured by a mortar blast.
He got an honorable discharge and was shipped back to the world one week after his thirty-seventh birthday; he had lost his 111 comrades in battle, including Bobby McCullam.
Smyrna, Georgia[]
After August 16th, 1990, he returned to his home and continued to live with his wife, Brenda. They lived in a trailer in a mobile home park outside of Smyrna, which was not a bad life for him. He worked as a truck driver, owning a rust-bucket International Harvester truck. In his daily routine, he used pomade to grease his dark hair back over his weathered head in a vintage way.
He had to deal with PTSD after the combat experiences, making him medicate with a half-quart of whiskey a day, which eventually descends him into alcoholism. Along with boozing, he had a toxic lifestyle with all the late nights, cigarettes, and unhealthy diets: red-eye gravy, grits dripping with butter, bacon grease, fried chicken, and banana cream pie. His doctor in Augusta had warned him about heart attacks for decades, but he didn't listen carefully.
Since 1992, he stopped having relations with Brenda and has not had sex with a woman. Decades of the drink have put the kibosh on his maleness.
Post-Apocalypse[]
The Road to Woodbury[]
When the outbreak first started, Bob's wife, Brenda Stookey, was killed and turned, but, Bob was unable to put her down. After that, he made his way to Tent City where he met Lilly Caul and would go on frequent supply runs. Bob cared for Lilly, so when she decided to leave Tent City after her boyfriend Joshua Hamilton got kicked out, he joined her, along with Megan Lafferty and Scott Moon. In Bob's truck, they headed to a gas station which they lived in for three days. Bob became jealous of Scott because of his sexual relationship with Megan.
One morning, Bob goes fishing down by a creek. He returns to the group having not found the creek, but having discovered a Walmart nearby. There, during a supply run, they meet Caesar Martínez's crew. The group make a deal to join this community called 'Woodbury'. Soon after arriving, the town's leader, 'the Governor' takes a special interest in Bob. He invited him into his inner circle and tells him many of his secrets, such as Penny's state and the killing of the National Guard soldiers (things he has told few before). The Governor would even at times bounce ideas off of Bob, who by this time was nearly always drunk. Bob comforted Megan the night before she killed herself after she slept with the Governor in front of Scott's zombified head and had to put her down the next morning. This resulted in him becoming depressed and drinking even more, which worries Lilly greatly. After a while, Bob's drunken state worried many in the community.
The Fall of the Governor[]
Bob slips into the background and doesn't get much notice from people. When the Governor is attacked by one of the three strangers, Bob is the only one who hears the screams of torture, but thinks nothing of it. Eventually Bruce brings Bob up to save the Governor's life after Michonne mutilated him and Alice and Stevens had deserted the town. Bob was successful in saving the Governor's life, much to the Governor's own disbelief. After they discover Steven's death, Bob becomes the town's medic and finally stops drinking. He helps Lilly with her pregnancy and has to break the news of her miscarriages to her. During the prison assault, the Governor personally asks Bob to watch over his undead daughter until he and the Woodbury Army returned from eliminating the prison's survivors. Bob stayed faithful to the Governor after his death and continued to feed and look after Penny. Until Lilly caught him heading over to the Governor's apartment. He helped Lilly put Penny to rest.
Descent[]
After Lilly takes over the leadership of Woodbury, Bob continues to live there as the towns doctor. He, Ben and Hap discover an old sewer system that runs below Woodbury. When Hap gets bitten and kills himself, Bob becomes upset over his friend's sudden death.
They use Bob's newly found sewer to rescue the Pentecostal People of God which Bob takes part in. On the way back he takes a disliking and becomes suspicious of reverend Jeremiah Garlitz and his group, and starts spying on them. He finally finds out that Jeremiah and his group are planning to kill everyone living in Woodbury in a religious suicide pact to go to Heaven, and tries to warn Lilly. At first, she does not believe him, but finally understands what they are really up to when Bob shows her a bag filled with poisons and explosives. He replaces the poison with water before being caught and taken to the detention cells below the town. After his, Lilly and Tommy's failed execution Bob breaks them all out and they go after Jeremiah's group. During the destruction of Woodbury, Bob falls down a hole and is presumed dead by Lilly. The few remaining Woodbury residents take refuge on the courthouse after the attack where they begin to run out of supplies. Bob returns to save them and leads the group down to the sewers where he had been busy setting up a cozy living room while the others were busy with the new survivors. Bob tells Lilly afterwards they can't go back to Woodbury.
Invasion[]
Bob, along with the few surviving Woodburians, continue to live their life in the sewers.
Bob and Gloria escape from a group of walkers after a supply run and begin to have sex on the roof. Bob notices a small bite on Gloria's ankle and panics. Shortly after he joins Norma Sutters and Miles Littleton and attempts to amputate her foot in their car (something he thought about doing to Hap Abernathy a few weeks earlier) but she refuses and dies shortly after. Sometime, after being separated from the other survivors in attempt to stop Jeremiah's second attack, Bob gets a heart attack as a result of his unhealthy manners in his youth. Using his last strength, he saves Lilly from a swarm of walkers before collapsing. A heart broken Lilly puts him down after he passes away.
Search and Destroy[]
Lilly dreams about Bob whilst she is in her six month coma. She realizes that he is dead in the dream and starts backing away, confused.
Death[]
- Killed By
- Himself (Indirectly Caused)
- Heart Attack (Alive)
Bob suffers from a heart attack as a result of his unhealthy manners in his youth.
- Lilly Caul (Before Reanimation)
Before dying, Bob uses his last strength to save Lilly from a swarm of walkers. Later, he passes away and a heart broken Lilly puts him down in order to prevent reanimation.
Killed Victims[]
This list shows the victims Bob has killed:
- Megan Lafferty (Zombified)
- Gloria Pyne (Before Reanimation)
- Himself (Indirectly Caused)
- Numerous counts of zombies
Relationships[]
Brenda Stookey[]
Not much was told about Bob's relationship with his wife, but, he loved her dearly as when she was killed by zombies he was unable to put her down, and when he finally left his mobile home he left her in her zombified state. Her death was one of the main reasons Bob descended into alcoholism.
Lilly Caul[]
Lilly and Bob share a good friendship. Bob patched up her wounds, she received from Chad at Tent City. And after that left Tent City with her and several others. They continue to share a good relationship, in Woodbury she often took him in during heavy nights of drinking. After Megan's death, Lilly continued to support Bob and help him deal with the loss.
Brian Blake[]
When Bob arrived in Woodbury Brian took a special interest in him, he told him a lot of his secrets even revealing the undead Penny to him. Brian came to see Bob as a father figure, and was one of the few people he really cared about. Bob sometimes feared Brian, but, still respected him, he would later go on to save Brian's life after his mutilation by Michonne. When Brian went to attack the prison he asked Bob to watch Penny for him, until he returned.
Megan Lafferty[]
Bob was attracted to Megan, and would often watch her and Scott Moon have sex. After Scott's death he had the chance to sleep with her, but he decided not to. He was also the one to put her down when she committed suicide. Her death caused Bob to go into a deep depression and start drinking again.
Joshua Hamilton[]
Bob and Joshua seemed to have a good relationship. Joshua often looked to Bob for advice and respected him greatly. Despite looking down on him for his drinking issues, Bob was shown to be saddened by Joshua's death.
Scott Moon[]
Bob was extremely jealous of Scott, due to his relationship with Megan. Scott never seemed to mind Bob, and other than that, the two have not interacted much.
Hap Abernathy[]
| “ | Okay, breathe, Old Hoss, just breathe. Gonna be okay, gonna get you outta here.
―Bob to Hap after he is bitten.[src]
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” |
Bob and Hap had a close relationship. Bob was deeply saddened by the death of Hap, and before he took his life he tried anything to save Hap's life. Bob mentions that he loved Hap's stories, his curmudgeonly personality and loved his stubborn bullheadedness that reminded him of his old army buddies.
Gloria Pyne[]
Bob never really interacted with Gloria, until the novel "Invasion". He ends up making love to her, before noticing Gloria had been bitten earlier. After a failed attempt of amputation, a heart-broken Bob puts Gloria down.
Appearances[]
Novel SeriesThe Road to Woodbury
The Fall of the Governor - Part One
The Fall of the Governor - Part Two
Descent
Invasion
Search and Destroy
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| Novels | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rise of the Governor | |||||
| The Road to Woodbury | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| The Fall of the Governor | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Descent | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Invasion | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Search and Destroy | ✔ | ||||
| Return to Woodbury |
| ✔ | Appears | ✔ | Voice is heard |
| 👁 | Appears with no lines | ✔ | Appears in a flashback |
| ✔ | Appears as a walker | 🖼 | Appears in a photograph/video |
| ✔ | Appears as a corpse | ✔ | Appears in a hallucination/dream |
Trivia[]
- Regarding the torture of The Governor, Robert Kirkman wrote: "It wasn't that Bob was such a good medic that suddenly came out of nowhere that saved Governor's life-although he certainly did save his life. The idea is that Michonne was keeping The Governor alive, so she could torture him more. His wounds were bad, but not impossible to heal from. You may in fact see Bob again soon. Stay tuned."[1]
- Bob is the only army medic encountered so far in the Comic Series.
- Even though Bob claims he served in the army 40 years ago in the comics, the novel reveals he served there thirteen years before the zombie apocalypse, at the age of 36.
- It is likely that he was originally going to be a former Vietnam war veteran in the Comic Series.
- Bob is one of the few characters within The Walking Dead to die due to a natural cause/disease.
References[]