Dr. Robert Hall Easterday passed away Tuesday, October 12, 2021, at Brookdale Care Center, Overland Park, KS. Funeral services will be at 11:00 AM on Saturday, October 16th at the Wesley Chapel - Church of the Resurrection, 13720 Roe Avenue, Leawood, KS 66224. Visitation will be prior to the service (10:15) at the Wesley Chapel. Burial will take place in Hamilton, MO, at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Church of the Resurrection, Leawood Campus.
Bob was born in Memphis, TN, on April 5, 1928, the eldest son of John Lloyd and Opal Hall Easterday. He spent his early years in Memphis, Chicago, and Dallas. When his father retired as an executive of Sears Roebuck and Co., the family returned to his father’s hometown, Hamilton, MO.
He attended Central Methodist College in Fayette, MO. Between his junior and senior years of college, he married the love of his life, Miss Mary Esther Gaines of Hamilton, MO. After graduating from Central Methodist, the couple moved to Columbia, MO, where he attended the two year medical program at the University of Missouri before finishing his medical degree at the University of Iowa.
Following graduation, he entered the Navy in 1953 and completed his internship in Jacksonville, FL and his residency at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, CA. He was board certified in internal medicine.
While stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD, he was invited to be the personal physician to President-elect Nixon from election to inauguration. While at Bethesda, he also treated notable military personnel such as Admiral Nimitz, U. S. Cabinet members, and various politicians from both major political parties.
After transferring to Great Lakes Naval Hospital to serve as Chief of Medicine, he was responsible for the care of returning POW’s from Viet Nam.
In 1973, Captain Easterday retired from the Navy after twenty years of honorable service, and he and Mary settled in the Kansas City area where he accepted a position as Medical Director of the Bendix/Allied Signal Corporation. He helped develop a staff department of physicians, nurses, and laboratory and x-ray personnel which was available to some 8,000 employees. He retired from there in 1990 at the age of 62.
Bob and Mary were committed to their faith. Both were raised in the Methodist Church and raised their family in the church. They were early members of the Church of the Resurrection, joining in 1994.
Bob was a long-time supporter of the Kansas City Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. He was an accomplished pianist and gardener. His favorite sports teams were the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. He enjoyed watching Kansas Jayhawk basketball and Iowa football but never forgot his small college athletic roots from his Central Methodist days. For over fifty years, he attended the NAIA National Basketball Tournament and was delighted to attend in later years with his sons and grandchildren and proud that the tradition continues with his great-grandchildren.
He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother, James Lloyd Easterday.
Survivors include his wife of 73 years and two sons, Robert Stephen (Kim) Easterday and Paul Alan (Mary Jo) Easterday, five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, a brother-in-law, Elton Leroy (Martha Jean) Gaines, several cousins, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Condolences may be left online at www.mcgilleyhoge.com
