Robert (Bob) Eaton Gerber was born November 13, 1922 in Driftwood, Oklahoma to Oscar Glenn and Edna Gerber. Bob was the third son of five children. After completing high school, Bob spent one year at Northwestern Oklahoma State University before moving to Wichita, Kansas to work at McDonald Douglas Aircraft. The day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bob enlisted in the United States Army Air Corp. He was stationed at RAF (Royal Air Force) Bassingbourn in England with The Ragged Irregulars, 91st Bombardment Group, which was under the 322nd Bomb Squadrons as a B-17 pilot. He completed 31 missions, earning the Air Medal, with three oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. His last mission was on June 18, 1944. Upon returning to the states he married Lynelle Wiley on July 31, 1944, whom he had met in Wichita prior to the war and had agreed to marry after he came home safe from his tour of duty. Bob then became a flight instructor training B-17 pilots at various bases around the U.S. At the conclusion of Bob’s enlistment, he moved Lyn back to Wichita, and he graduated from Wichita State with a degree in English and education. His first teaching position was in Caldwell, Kansas, and then Salina, Kansas, where their son, Robert Christian was born in 1951. In 1952, Bob was accepted in the John Hay Fellowship program at Columbia University. He and Lyn moved to New York and lived in Harlem for a year while Bob finished his residency. Moving back to Salina, they welcomed a daughter, Annelle Marie to their growing family. Wanting a change of scenery, Bob and Lyn moved their family to Vancouver, Washington and then Portland, Oregon and another daughter, Leslie Lyn, was added to the family. Bob taught for the Portland Public School District for the next 25 years. He spent most of his career at Grant High School, teaching English, and coaching speech and debate. When Adams High School opened in 1969, Bob became their Activities Director until his retirement in 1979. After one year of retirement, Bob missed teaching and took a job with the Evergreen School district in Vancouver, WA for one last year. Throughout his career, Bob continued to take classes at both Portland State and Reed College to help him understand his students and neighbors. He is remembered for fighting discrimination, encouraging civic involvement, and advocating equality regardless of age, race, religion, or gender. As a Portland resident, Bob was active in Portland’s NE Neighborhood Coalition, contributing his many skills to the Hollywood and later Cully neighborhood Associations. Through his wife, he was also a staunch supporter of the League of Women Voters. In 2002, the World Arts Foundation Inc. of Portland, in acknowledgement of Bob’s contributions to civil rights, awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 17th annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Although Bob does not want to be remembered as a warrior, in his acceptance speech he credited his views on equality beginning during WWII with the support the Tuskegee Airmen gave to the B-17 airplane crews. Among his other interests, Bob was an extraordinary poet, and musician. He enjoyed sharing his talents by participating in poetry reading groups or by singing, playing his harmonica or banjo for various groups of people in the Portland, Vancouver area. Bob and Lyn were married for 62 years, with Bob nursing Lyn through five years of Alzheimer’s disease until her death in 2006. It was during this time he observed the power of music therapy and spent the last years of his life teaching harmonica to several friends to help ease them through the effects of Alzheimer’s. Bob is survived by his sister Mary Jane Evans, Cherokee, OK; son Chris (Cathy) Gerber Vancouver, WA; daughters Anne (Ron) Emmons, Hermiston, OR and Leslie Brunton Vancouver, WA; three grandchildren, Duncan (Caroline) Emmons, Napa, CA, Jackie Dunlap, Vancouver, WA, Emily Emmons, Missoula, MT; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Lynelle, brothers Bill, Glenn, and Ray. Burial will occur at Willamette National Cemetery, next to Lynelle. As per Bob’s request, there will be no services. The family requests that if friends want to honor Bob, he would appreciate donations be given to the Alzheimer’s Foundation.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18