Bob Blumhagen, 59, died April 27, 2009, at his home on Whidbey Island. His death followed 18 months of medical challenges following a severe stroke in October 2007.

Bob was born on Dec. 18, 1949, in Spokane to Della Elene and Delbert Earl Blumhagen and joined older siblings, Rick and Dianne. They enjoyed a wonderful childhood hanging out in the neighborhood of Franklin Grade School and Lincoln Park, fabulous summers at Haag Cove on Lake Roosevelt, National Park vacations and boating trips with family friends. Parents were educators, so summers were care-free and filled with travel adventures in a 1957 VW Beetle with parents in the front and three kids riding in the back. Bob attended Franklin Grade School, Ferris High School, then moved to Yakima in 1965 as a sophomore and attended Eisenhower High School. This string-bean kid was a great free-throw shooter and played varsity IKE basketball all three years. A special summer memory was the year he served as a band boy for his cousin’s band, Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts. Bob attended University of Puget Sound, and then when he admittedly didn’t keep his grade point average up to his agreed-upon-deal with Mom and Dad, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Post Marines, Bob became re-acquainted with high school acquaintance Francy Kling, then married in 1971.

Bob received his degree from Central Washington University, and then worked for the Yakima Herald Republic under Publisher Jim Tonkin. His career in newspapers took them to the Gresham, Ore., Outlook, The Seattle P-I, and the Port Angeles Daily News. Bob was the key organizer in the fight to keep the P-I from merging with the Seattle Times back in the early 1980s. Eventually Bob and Francy moved to Whidbey Island and grew their own greeting card company, Salmonberry Studio, using Francy’s art designs and Bob’s business expertise gained from the MBA he accomplished at the University of Montana in 1994. Bob made many lasting friends in Montana and was pleased to be a part of M.A.D.E. (Montana Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs), giving student presentations and returning every spring to help judge the U of M business plan competition.

Bob’s passions were golf, fishing, camping, driving and teaching himself carpentry in order to build a cabin at Crawford Bay, Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. Bob began chasing golf balls at a young age. It started on Sundays when the two brothers were supposed to be in Sunday school. We think both Rick and Bob walked into the church to go to Sunday school, then walked out the other door and headed straight to Manito Golf & CC looking for lost balls. Their return to the car was so perfectly timed that our parents never knew they hadn’t been in Sunday school. Bob was one of the lucky ones that enjoyed the thrill of a hole-in-one.

Bob’s love of fishing started at a young age and continued until his stroke. Many great fish stories were told through the years with those same stories becoming more interesting when he only had the use of one arm, following his stroke, to show you how big that fish was. Bob loved to drive, a trait passed on from our father who took us for “Sunday drives” around Spokane, through the rolling hills of the Palouse, to the Bowl and Pitcher, to Mt. Spokane. Actually, anywhere and everywhere.

Many wild stories could be told about the high school years spent with buddies Mike Snyder, Dick Tesh, Steve Bladow, Craig Mendenhall, Pat Carey, Andy Hoggarth, Rod Bench, Willie Tonkin and a few others. These lifelong friends gave Bob hope and encouragement following Bob’s stroke. Special thanks to Paul Larson, a fishing buddy, for being a faithful visitor and always keeping the fish stories alive.

Bob is survived by his wife of 38 years, Francy; mother Della Pederson; sister Dianne LaBissoniere; brother Rick Blumhagen; step-siblings Mike (Farrell) Cornwall, Tom Cornwall, Linda (Jack) Graham, Sally Wilson, Tammy Gifford, Terry (Mort) Marquiss; step-mother Gerry Blumhagen; nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father Delbert Earl Blumhagen; step-father Earl Cornwall; and step-father Russell Pederson.

A gathering to celebrate Bob will be held on Thursday, May 7, at 2 p.m. at State Fair Room, SunDome, Yakima.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a gift of hope to future stroke victims in need of therapy. Checks to: UW Foundation, in memory of Bob Blumhagen, UW Medicine Advancement, 815 Mercer St., C-5, Box 35805, Seattle, WA 98109.