Private funeral services will be held for Robert Walter Herbert Gunther, 82, of Coquille. Interment will be at Myrtle Crest Memorial Gardens
Bob was born Dec. 22, 1938, in Manhattan, N.Y., to Herbert and Louise Gunther and died Aug. 9, 2021, in Portland from complications following a heart attack.
He grew up in the Bronx and graduated from the State University of New York College of Forestry. On June 16, 1962, he married Mary Gillen and the two moved to Medford, Oregon, where he started a long career in the Bureau of Land Management that included working in the BLM’s Coos Bay District as an area manager and planner from 1977 through his retirement.
Bob and Mary had six sons and enjoyed watching the various activities of their children and later their grandchildren. They were married 51 years. After Mary died, Bob married Patricia (Goergen) Collins on Jan. 3, 2015 and he and Patsy lived in Coquille until his death.
Bob had the heart of a volunteer and spent many years helping people with their taxes through the AARP tax assistance program and volunteering with both the hot meals program and the Coquille Food Bank. He volunteered at a variety of golf tournaments at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
His greatest volunteer work came in the Boy Scout program, including three decades leading the Eagle Scout Board of Review for the Chinook District, a term that ended in 2020.
Bob was assistant scoutmaster and scoutmaster for Coquille’s Troop 63 throughout the scouting tenures of all his children and continued serving as part of the troop committee several more years, totaling about two decades with the troop. All six sons — Mike, Steve, Bob, Allen, John and Andy — attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Bob received the highest award for adult scouts, the Silver Beaver, in 1994. He also was selected to the Vigil Honor, the highest honor for the Order of the Arrow, a Boy Scouts honor group. The vigil name selected for him was a perfect match, Kwan Wake Hehe Mamook Kumtux, translated quiet, serious mentor.
Bob and Mary, and later Bob and Patsy, were active members of Holy Name Catholic Church in Coquille, and he served many years on the parish council for the church, as well as volunteering at the annual spaghetti dinner.
Bob loved the outdoors and enjoyed fishing, as well as trips with Mary and later Patsy up and down the South Coast and throughout the Western United States to visit national parks and other beautiful spots. He also loved photography and making albums from those trips.
Bob enjoyed gardening and often donated the surplus produce with the Coquille Food Bank.
He also loved making wine, including using a variety of fruits and many of the wild berries that grow on the South Coast. His private vintage included blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, Oregon grape, salal, huckleberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry and his favorite, blue elderberry.
He enjoyed a good game of cards, including many years playing cribbage during lunch with colleagues at the BLM and treasured Sunday evening pinochle games with Mary and close friends Rol and Cathy Schmidt, as well as hours as a family playing the Gunther clan favorite Biff.
Bob is survived by his wife Patsy, his sister and brother-in-law Doris and Bob Olsen of Amawalk, N.Y.; his sons and daughters-in-law Mike and Amy of Morgantown, West Virginia; Steve and Margarita of Beaverton; Allen and Joni of Portland; John and Lori of Coquille; Andy and Paula of Vancouver, Wash.; son Bob of Coquille; and grandchildren Michael, Elizabeth, Kimberly, Hayden, Mariella, Matthew, Alex, Camille, Connor, Finn, Benjamin and Isaac. Bob also is survived by Patsy's son and daughter-in-law Eddie and Cyndi Collins and their family in Bend.
He was preceded in death by his wife Mary and his parents.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Coquille Food Bank, P.O. Box 465, Coquille, Ore., 97423.
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