Obituary of Robert Mottla

Robert Alfred Mottla, Jr. “R.J.” of Nashua, NH formerly of Burlington, Nov. 7. Beloved son of Robert & his wife Carla of Burlington and the late Cindy (Trebino) Mottla. Loving brother of Lisa Mottla of Nashua, NH. Uncle of Christopher, Michael & Tyler Gagnon and Logan & Kaysenn Mathewson. Funeral from the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (Exit 34 off Rt. 128, Woburn side) on Friday, Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. Followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Margaret’s Church, 111 Winn St., Burlington at 10 a.m. Visiting hours Thursday 4-8 p.m. Interment in Westview Cemetery, Lexington. Memorials in R. J.’s name may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701. Family Remembrance by Ginni On Behalf of our family I would like to thank all of you for joining us today in the celebration of R.J.’s Life, as we pay our respects to a young man who left us much too soon. R.J. was such a sweet and happy go luck little boy who always wanted to please and as a man those qualities remained. The loss of his mother at seventeen devastated him and changed his life forever. R.J. had an infectious smile just like his mother, Cindy under which he hide the grief of her loss. No matter how down he was or how bad things were, R.J. would tell you about something good in his life and put a positive spin on it. R.J. was a generous soul with a heart of gold, who gave to others even if it meant that he went without. His love for his family was unconditional; they meant the world to him and it was important to him that they knew just how much. Especially his sister, Lisa or as often he called her Chicken, they had a strong bond, which only deepened after the death of their Mother. Lisa being the oldest she took R.J. under her wing and always looked out for him. No matter how many times he ventured out on his own; he always came home to Lisa, especially this year when she needed him. He had a real soft spot for his nephew’s Christopher, Michael, Tyler, Logan and Kaysene; they were the highlight of his life, which meant he let them get away with murder. Uncle J wrestled with them, played loud music and help instigate their rowdiness to levels which riled Lisa up. R.J. looked up to and respected his Father, Carla, his Grandfather and his Uncle John, he would not dare cross the line with them. He was fortunate after the loss of his own mother to have Carla in his life. R..J. adored his two cousins John and Stephen; they were like brothers to him. If R.J. loved you, you were fortunate, always wanting to make sure you were happy was his special gift. R.J. was a good and loyal friend and his best friend, Wally could always count on him to have his back. He was a hard worker and very talented, able to operate all types of equipment; he had a passion for working with pavers, building stone walls and doing landscaping. All of which he learned working side by side with his Dad. Sometimes his imagination and creativity got the best of him, like building a three foot jump and having his cousin Stephen jump it with his Honda Accord, the night before he sold it . Instead of being upset with the end result, he nearly fell out of the front end loader because he was laughing so hard. R.J. was very charitable, in June 2010 a teenager girl got hit by a car in front of John’s house while he was working there; he and John stayed and consoled her until the paramedics arrived. Days later when he learned of her passing he was only to happy to help with her memorial garden. He assisted his cousin John with the installation of engraved granite bench to honor Katie; That’s just the kind of compassionate guy he was. R.I. was comical and had an uncanny way of making people laugh no matter what the situation and more often than not at an inappropriate time. He wouldn’t even have to say anything, if you made the mistake and looked at him you were in trouble because there was no way you could hold your laughter in. R.J.’s foolish sense of humor was well known among family and friends. A few years back he bought a Black 1989 Cadillac with red pin stripping in mint condition; everyone teased him that it looked like a mob car. So he went to Wal-Mart and bought a hat, a wind suit and a pair of white sneakers. Like Paulie Walnuts in the Sopranos, he figured why not play the part, and it was that part which earned him the name “Cadillac Bob”. One of his flaws was he never backed down from a dare no matter how outrageous and for that reason you had to be careful of what you proposed, especially when money was involved. When he craved attention, he made sure he got and sometimes in a negative but playful way. A perfect example of this was a few years back when Dr. Oster admitted him to Lahey Clinic, to regulate his seizure meds. He called me and said “Auntie is Aunt Linda working tonight?” “ I said yes R.J. she will be there at 8 o’clock, he said ok.” “I said R.J. don’t you dare bother your aunt; she will come see you when she can.” “He said don’t worry Ma and of course that was a dead give away if he called me Ma, I said R.J you better behave yourself, he said don’t worry Ma there it was again. “Then he added no problem you know me and that was the problem I did know him.” That night he decided Linda was not coming to visit him fast enough for his liking, so he pull a few EEG leads off his head knowing she would have to come down. Now, Linda was upstairs in the lab watching him do this on the monitors, she had to leave her patient and go down right then to reattach the leads and believe me she was not happy. Of course when she arrived there is R.J. lying in bed with a big smile on. She scolded him, put the leads back on and told that if he did it again, she had to come down and she would beat him. Well as luck would have it his nurse happened by the door, heard Linda’s statement and went to call her supervisor. In the meantime, R.J. promised he would behave, professed his love to Linda and she left. Then the nurse entered his room to tell him she had notified her supervisor who would be up to take his statement regarding the unprofessional manner in which the sleep tech had spoken to him. She continued to say that she hoped the tech would get fired. R.J. said “OMG no, that was my aunt and she knows I purposely pulled the leads of so she would have to come down to visit me; but she was just kidding when she said she would beat me.” The nurse said, “oh she was seconds away from being fired.” After that he was a little bit better behaved but not much, R.J. was just being R. J. To some of us he was R.J., to others he was Little Bobby, Bubba, Uncle J., Uncle Savvy, Chummily or Cadillac Bob: but to all of us R.J you were a compassionate, caring and comical individual with a big heart. At times you were quite the character too, who we adored; but you were our character the one who has left an imprint on our hearts forever! “R.J. We were blest to have you in our lives, We Love You ,We will miss you and God Bless You!