Robert Revert, longtime county commissioner, dies at 72

Robert Norman “Bobby” Revert, a lifelong resident of Beatty, passed away in a Las Vegas hospice in the early hours of Nov. 4, 2016.

He had been transferred there from his home in Beatty a few days earlier. He had been in declining health for several years due to a blood disorder. He was 72.

Bobby Revert was born in Reno, Jan. 30, 1944, and spent his life in Beatty. He married Mary Marchand in May of 1962. She had moved to Beatty with her family in 1958 from Alabama. The couple raised five children: Bobby, Joannie, Vincent, James, and Amanda.

Bobby began working at the Nevada Test Site in the early 1960s and was employed there for 20 years, mostly driving a truck.

A pillar of the Beatty/Nye County community, Bobby Revert was a life member of the Masonic Lodge in Tonopah, a charter member of the Beatty Lions Club, and served on the Beatty Fire Department. For many years he was an ambulance volunteer and was also at one time a deputy sheriff.

He served 14 years starting in the 1980s as Nye County commissioner—three consecutive full terms—then, following a two-year hiatus, two more years to complete the term of Bill Copeland, who passed away while in office.

Bobby was very interested in mining and was in many ways a prospector at heart. His wife Mary said he had been interested in mining for as long as she could remember. He had an eye for spotting gold.

In many ways, Bobby embodied the real Nye County, the real Nevada.

As his wife, Mary, said, “He was what Nevada was all about.” He had a saying he often repeated to his children: “You gotta give back,” and that he did in so many ways.

More on Bobby Revert’s life, including what he did for preserving Nye County history, will appear in the next edition of the Pahrump Valley Times.

A celebration of Bobby Revert’s life will be held at the Beatty Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m.