Robert James Dyer Jr.

Robert James (Robin) Dyer Jr. was born in Gilman, Montana on April 28, 1922 to Robert James Dyer and Bertha Fromhart Dyer. When the Great Northern Railroad moved its tracks down the road to Augusta in 1923, the Dyers and all of Gilman relocated there. Robin's father ran the Great Northern Depot in Augusta until his retirement in 1958. Robin, together with his older brother, Paul, and sister, Angela, grew up in Augusta and attended Augusta High School. Robin played trumpet in the Boy Scout Band and quarterbacked the Augusta six-man football team which competed in the 1939 state finals.

After receiving a $50 scholarship to attend Carroll College in Helena, but chafing under the discipline, Robin ventured to Los Angeles where he attended and graduated from Curtiss Wright Technical Institute. He then took a job with Douglas Aircraft and helped design the DC-3, DC-4 and the A-20 attack fighter. He was called up for active military duty shortly thereafter, and served as a training sergeant at Camp Blanding, Florida until 1945. Returning to Bozeman to attend MSU in Civil Engineering, he became reacquainted with high school sweetheart, Kathlyn Kuhr, of Havre, now a Bozeman High School English teacher. Married in 1945, they were inseparable for the next 70 years, raising five children, Bob, John, Carolyn, Max and Bill.

Working for International Harvester as a regional service and sales manager during the ensuing years, Robin spent much of his time on the road traveling for the company. Every summer the family enjoyed long road trips, camping out in state and national parks throughout the western states. Robin's frequent company transfers led them to homes in many states, including a short period in Missoula where he owned the Royal Crown Cola bottling plant. In 1963, Robin purchased a Denny's restaurant in Amarillo, Texas which he operated for more than 10 years. During this last venture he capitalized on a life-long interest in geology, and successfully located and invested in several gas wells drilled in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma. In retirement, Robin and Kathlyn moved back to Bozeman where they lived since 1984.

A life-long and enthusiastic supporter of MSU, Robin relished football and basketball season and attended all the games. He had an active and inquiring mind, and loved reading about history and geology and explaining their finer points to others. In addition to his engineering skills, Robin was an inveterate inventor, an accomplished painter, sculptor, woodworker, and furniture and boat builder. He loved family fishing and camping trips in Glacier Park and expeditions into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Robin was 94 and was preceded in death by his wife, Kathlyn, in 2015 and his daughter, Carolyn, in 2013. He is survived by his four sons, 12 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. He will be sorely missed.

Memorial services will be held Sunday, May 29 at 2 p.m. at the Catholic Community Center.

Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com.