Robert Walter Herbert Gunther | Obituaries

December 22, 1938 – August 9, 2021

Private funeral services are held for Robert Walter Herbert Gunther, 82, from Coquille. The burial takes place in the Rink Creek Cemetery.

Bob was born on December 22, 1938 in Manhattan, New York, to Herbert and Louise Gunther and died on August 9, 2021 in Portland of complications from a heart attack.

He grew up in the Bronx and graduated from the College of Forestry at the State University of New York. On June 16, 1962, he married Mary Gillen and the two retired to Medford, Oregon, where he began a long career in the Bureau of Land Management.

Bob and Mary had six sons and enjoyed watching their children and, later, their grandchildren go about their various activities. They were married for 51 years. After Mary’s death, Bob married Patricia (Goergen) Collins on January 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 Aid Program and volunteering at both the Hot Meal Program and the Coquille Food Bank. He has participated in a variety of golf tournaments at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. His greatest volunteer work came in the Boy Scout program, including three decades as head of the Eagle Scout Board of Review for the Chinook District, a term that ended in 2020.

Bob served as Assistant Boy Scout Master and Boy Scout Master for Coquille’s Troop 63 throughout the Boy Scouting days of all of his children and served as part of the Troop Committee for several years, totaling about two decades with the Troop. All six sons – Mike, Steve, Bob, Allen, John and Andy – achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Bob received the highest award for adult scouts in 1994, the Silver Beaver. He was also selected for the Vigil Honor, the highest award for the Order of the Arrow, an honor group of Boy Scouts. The name of the vigil chosen for him fit perfectly, Kwan Wake Hehe Mamook Kumtux, translated as silent, serious mentor.

Bob and Mary, and later Bob and Patsy, were active members of the Holy Name Catholic Church in Coquille, and he served for many years on the church’s ward council and as a volunteer at the annual spaghetti dinner.

Bob loved the outdoors and enjoyed fishing, as well as trips with Mary and later Patsy along the south coast and western United States to visit national parks and other beautiful places. He was also fond of photography and made albums from these trips.

Bob enjoyed gardening and often donated the excess produce to the Coquille Food Bank. He was also fond of 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, blueberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, and his favorite elderberry.

He enjoyed a good card game, including many years of cribbage at lunch with colleagues at the BLM and cherished pinochle games on Sunday evenings 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, New York; his sons and daughters-in-law, Mike and Amy from Morgantown, West Virginia, Steve and Margarita from Beaverton, Allen and Joni from Portland, John and Lori from Coquille, Andy and Paula from Vancouver, Washington; Son, Bob de Coquille; and grandsons, Michael, Elizabeth, Kimberly, Hayden, Mariella, Matthew, Alex, Camille, Connor, Finn, Benjamin and Isaac. In death his wife Maria and his parents preceded him.

Instead of flowers, donations can be made to the Coquille Food Bank, PO Box 465, Coquille, Ore., 97423.

The services are under the direction of Amling Schroeder Funeral Service, 541-396-3846.