March 17, 1944 - May 22, 2019
Robert "Bob" Ellis Dye Obituary
Robert ?Bob? Ellis Dye entered heaven on the morning of May 22nd. He fought a good fight after having a kidney stone procedure followed by a mild heart attack, which led to on going complications making him too weak to recover.
Bob lived a very full life which started in Bremerton, Washington March 17th 1944. His parents were young and he was placed in the Children?s Home in Seattle. At 16 months Ellis and Edith Dye adopted him in June of 1945. He was taken home to Reardon. Later they added an adopted daughter Lona Mae November 18th,1947. Bob?s father worked in logging and later in road construction so Bob lived in many places throughout Washington and Idaho. In 1962 Bob enlisted into the Coast Guard. He was first stationed in San Francisco on the Dexter, then to Hawaii on the Kukui which made several trips to the Far East. In 1967 he was transferred to the Minnetonka in Long Beach, California. Bob met Shirley Boyd and after 5 years in the Coast Guard, he was honorably discharged and he and Shirley were married on September 16, 1967. In 1980 an unfortunate event led to a divorce, however, after 25 years the Lord reunited Bob and Shirley and they remarried on June 7, 2005.
When Bob was younger he like to go hiking and backpacking. Bob climbed to the top of Mt. Whitney in California and to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California. He was a great football fan. His favorite professional team was the Raiders and for college the University of Idaho Vandals. In the glory days of UCLA basketball, he cheered on the Bruins.
After his marriage to Shirley, Bob finished the last semester of his senor year in 1968 at Lynwood High School where Shirley graduated. The following year, Bob and Shirley moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, where Bob attended Lee University for three years.
After returning to California, Bob pursued a career as an auto painter which he learned from Shirley?s father. After 35 years of painting, he started a career as a semi-trucker driver working for Swift and then TWT driving a refrigerator truck within the 11 western states. He later drove a hopper bottom hauling grain and fertilizer out of Canada for Arlo Huber. Following hip surgery, he started working part time as a school bus driver for Mead School district.
Bob was dedicated to the Lord which led to serving in the church which included driving a bus for a Saturday Sunday school program and ushering at Spokane Christian Center and being an elder and a board member of the Board of Trustees for the building of a new sanctuary at Life Springs Fellowship. He was also faithful and supported many other church activities.
Bob?s big, bold personality made him fun loving. He knew no strangers and you were not around him very long until you were laughing. He will forever be missed by many.
Bob is survived by his wife Shirley Boyd Dye and his sister Lona Mae Criswell of Colfax, Washington. There were no children, however, he enjoyed being uncle to 5 nieces and 1 nephew.
Funeral services will be held on June 15th at 2:00 pm at Heritage Funeral Home at 805 N. Government Way, Spokane. The burial ceremony will be held June 17th at 1:00 pm in Moscow, Idaho at the Moscow cemetery on Troy Rd.
Comments