Robert A Case Sr.

Robert Allen Case died on Thursday, December 10, after a courageous fight against cancer. In death he was surrounded by his loving wife of 73 years, Lovelia, and his son, Robert Case II, daughter, Deborah Jean Aimone, and daughter-in-law, Katherine Case. He was 97 years old.

Robert was born in Everett on November 19, 1918. His parents, Deforest Burtell and Alice Elizabeth, and younger brother, Jack Case, moved to Ellensburg in 1931 to open a new business, Case Motor Parts Company, specializing in the sale of automobile engine parts and complete engine overhauls.

Bob started in the 8th grade at Morgan Junior High School, and in 1936, he graduated from Ellensburg High School. He enrolled in Central Washington College of Education in Ellensburg. One year later, he registered at Washington State College majoring in Botany and pledging Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

The accounting classes at C.WC.E. required that Bob get some desperately needed assistance which came in the form of Lovelia Gregory. This business association led to a romantic association which led to their marriage on March 20, 1942.

The honeymoon coincided with the arrival of the selective service induction notice and Bob's attack of the flu. Carrying an Army pack must not have been too attractive to Bob so Lovelia agreed to go to the Navy office and sign up her husband. The Commander said that it was unusual but not impossible. Robert A. Case was now in the navy. Case’s first stop was Sand Point Naval Air Station, Seattle, then eventually, a transfer to the Navy Headquarters in Washington, DC which lasted for two years. It was enough time for Robert Case II to be born and brought up to running speed before Lt. Case was transferred to the Navy Lend Lease Division in the downtown New York City office. He took this opportunity to study advertising at City College of New York night school.

After refusing promises of promotion to stay in the Navy, former Lt. Robert Case and his young family returned to Ellensburg in 1946 to be the Deputy Ellensburg City Treasurer to the senior city treasurer, Mr. Elmer Jacobson. In the election of 1946, Mr. Jacobson decided not to run for reelection. Bob did run for City Treasurer on the Veteran’s Ticket and won. The family myth was that he didn't know what to do as City Treasurer, so he had to be tutored by the kindly Mr. Jacobson. Bob said he was so bad at the job that after he resigned in 1948 to go to work as treasurer for W. Brotherton Seed Company, the city fathers changed the position to an appointed post to prohibit another Bob Case from being elected. Those are the facts. The family always found Bob’s interpretation funny, and consistent with his sense of humor.

April 11, 1948, was the election day, the first day of fishing season and the day that Deborah Jeanne Case decided to be born, an event that Bob found out about when he returned from a two day fishing trip back in the Naneum Creek. His love of fishing and hunting would last for the next 60 years.

W. Brotherton Seed Company was one of nine companies that grew and processed thousands of acres of pea seed in Kittitas Valley. Brotherton built the first liquid fertilizer mixing facilities in the Northwest at Ellensburg, Mt. Vernon and Quincy. By 1964 the company made the decision to move their operation to Moses Lake. Rather than move, Case sold his stock back to the company and purchased the office facilities and land on the corner of Mountain View and Pearl Street. During the years with Brotherton, Bob was elected to the board of directors of the Northwest Plant Food Association.

The same year that Brotherton Seed Company moved to Moses Lake, Robert and Lovelia Case formed Central Ag Corporation to market retail and wholesale agriculture chemicals and fertilizers. In the fall of l970, Case sold Central Ag Corporation to Cominco American, Inc.

In l972 Case joined the firm of Thayer Realty Company and specialized in selling ranches and farms throughout the northwest. Thayer Realty was one of the oldest family owned real estate companies in eastern Washington. Roy Anderson, Len Thayer’s brother-in-law and partner, became active in Walla Walla real estate and Bob purchased his interest in Thayer Realty. In 1980, the name was changed to Thayer-Case, Realty to reflect the addition of Robert Case II to the firm. In January, 1982, Robert Case, Sr. purchased the interest of Thayer. He took an active part in the real estate profession as a speaker at educational seminars, Vice-President of the Washington Real Estate Education Foundation, the Washington Farm and Land Institute and the Kittitas County Board of Realtors. In 1978, he was voted Washington’s “Farm and Land Broker of the Year.” In l978 and again in l981 he was voted Kittitas County “Realtor of the Year.”

About the same time, Case again became active with W. Brotherton Seed Company as a broker representing the company in the northwest and western Canada along with doing much of the promotional work for the company.

In 1984, Robert Case II purchased Thayer-Case, Realtors. The senior Case continued as a broker with the company and became more active with Brotherton Seed Company retiring from Brotherton only in 2013 at the age of 94.

During his years in Ellensburg, he began his community service by joining the Junior Chamber of Commerce and eventually becoming its Vice-president. During these early post-war years, Bob was an active pilot and helped organize the Jaycee “Western Flight Breakfasts” at Bowers Field.

He became Secretary-Treasurer of the Ellensburg General Hospital Board of Directors in the mid-1950s. When a new hospital was completed in 1965, the old Ellensburg General Hospital on Third Avenue was sold to Central Washington University and the Ellensburg General Hospital Corporation was dissolved.

He was a very active Rotarian and in l959 he was elected president of the club. He was also a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary.

He was appointed to the Kittitas County Fair Board and served as president in l969 and 1970.

In 1977 he joined with other community leaders to form the Central Investment Fund to provide scholarships that would bring student leaders to CWU.

After years of serving on the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and of committee involvement, Case was elected president of the Chamber for the years l980-1981.

In 1981 Bob was chosen as SAPS (Straight Arrow Pioneer Society) “Man of the Year” for his community service and “for making Kittitas Valley a better place to live, work and play.”

In 1982 he joined the CWU Foundation and later became president, remaining on the board for many years.

During the l980s, Bob served on the boards of the Clymer Museum and the Laughing Horse Summer Theatre.

In 2012, the Ellensburg Rodeo Board dedicated one of its four shows to Bob and Lovelia and the Ellensburg Downtown Association gave Bob and Lovelia its “Legacy Award” for outstanding contributions to Ellensburg. That same year the Kittitas County Republicans awarded Bob and Lovelia their “Lifetime Service Award.”

Robert Case was preceded in death by his parents, Burtell and Alice Case and his younger brother, Jack. He is survived by his wife of 74 years, Lovelia, and his two married children: son Robert II (Katherine), grandchildren Karissa (Nat) Taylor, Angela (Joshua) Suich, great grandchildren Alexis, Hannah, Jack Taylor and Olivia Suich, and daughter, Deborah (Joseph) Aimone, grandchildren Leif (Caroline) Shelstad, great grandchildren Alexa and Ethan Shelstad, Courtney (Joseph) Bourland and great grandchildren Levi and Jackson Bourland.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, December 18 at 11:00 at First Lutheran Church, 512 North Ruby Street, Ellensburg. A reception will follow at the church.

Viewing will be Thursday, December 17 from 2:00 to 7:00 at Steward & Williams Tribute Center, 301 East Third, Ellensburg.

Memorial donations may be made to the charity of your choice.