Robert “Bob” James Dunn, husband, father and engineer, passed away early Easter morning after succumbing to the effects of cancer. He was 86.

Bob was born in 1935 to Charles and Laura Dunn, their second child after sister Louise. He grew up in Hoquiam, gaining a love of the outdoors playing and working in the bustling logging town, graduating from Hoquiam High School in 1953. After graduating, Bob enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving for two years and gaining the chance to work with some early Army radar systems during his service.

Bob had a wonderful way with people and tried to make the best of any situation, ingratiating himself with his peers with his generosity and dry sense of humor. He liked Clark Bars, and during his time in the Army would order them by the box as something tastier to eat than the standard rations. One day he was out on patrol with his squad, miles away from the next opportunity for a meal, when he pulled from his pack a box of Clark Bars and offered them to his squad mates. His sergeant sees this and bellows out, “Private Dunn, what the hell is that?!,” Bob answered, “Clark Bars sir, would you like one?” Well the sergeant snapped one up, and after finishing it off (the best tasting thing that he’d probably had in months) the sergeant never troubled Bob again.

On leaving the Army, he enrolled in Grays Harbor Community College receiving an associate’s degree. After college, Bob was employed with IBM and GE, working on various computer and radar systems. With GE, he got the chance to travel the world, spending time in Greenland, India and Vietnam as a field engineer. His adventures during the Vietnam War were the source of many a story he would relate to his friends and family later in life. Bob would leave GE and join Univac, moving to Seattle to be closer to his family. He was a customer engineer for Univac, supporting the mainframe computers used by companies like Boeing and Northwest Airlines. During this time, he met the love of his life Carol, whom he would marry in 1972.

Bob and Carol moved to Olympia where they raised two sons. In Olympia, Bob continued working as a customer engineer, now for the State Patrol and Department of Social and Health Services, where he was a respected and well-liked teammate. He would spend his off hours with his children, working on the home, tending to the garden or in his recliner reading. Bob instilled a love of reading, the outdoors, technology and craftsmanship in his children, and it’s little surprise both would eventually become engineers.

Bob loved to cook and could be found in the kitchen cooking dinner for the family throughout the week and breakfast on weekends. His French toast, pancakes and Dutch babies were staples for breakfast, and he cooked the family Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for decades. Bob continued to cook for his family until his final days.

In retirement, Bob enjoyed reading, working on his model railroad, and tending to the family garden, and continued to get up early every morning to get the newspaper and fix breakfast.

Bob is survived by his wife and two sons. He will be remembered for his dry humor, his generosity, his love of his familyand Clark Bars.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Disabled American Veterans.