Robert Pardee

1923 - 2022

Robert "Bob" Purvis Pardee, aged 99, passed away peacefully in his sleep at his residence in Boulder, Colorado, on September 16, 2022. He is survived by his children, Celeste of Tucson, Arizona, and David (Candyce) of Hereford, Arizona, his grandchildren Cassandra Kyffin (Chadwick) and Adam, and his great grandson Keagan Kyffin. He was predeceased by the "sweetheart of all my dreams come true," his wife of 66 years, Doris Roemer Pardee, and his three older siblings: brothers Jack and Will Pardee and sister Connie Braxton. For the past 52 years, Bob lived in Boulder, Colorado, but he was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and lived for many years in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a "rambling wreck from Georgia Tech," where he earned his bachelor's degree in engineering before joining the Navy during WWII. After the war, he earned his master's degree at the University of Colorado. As a chemical engineer, he was employed by Texaco Labs, Jet Propulsion Labs, Sandia Labs, and Ball Corporation, and was granted 11 US patents. Bob loved backpacking and hiking in the Rocky Mountains, the Gila and Pecos Wilderness Areas, the Appalachian Mountains, the Grand Canyon, et al, and forever, the Escalante. Into his 90s, he hiked weekly a steep route up and around the first Flatiron west of Boulder, a loop he completed over 200 times. He also enjoyed playing bridge and cribbage, being a Boy Scoutmaster, traveling, volunteering at his Methodist Church and Frasier Meadows retirement community, reading and discussing the Great Books, the poetry of Robert Service, and always classical music. Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear, And icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear?... Then you've a hunch what the music meant. -Robert Service A highlight for his children of every family camping trip was listening to Dad recite one of Service's ballads, while sitting around the campfire at night. Born in 1923, Bob was raised during the Great Depression by his widowed working mother; his father died when he was seven. That experience, and the examples set by his older siblings, molded him: he was self-reliant, frugal, considerate, helpful, and calm in the face of adversity. He passed on at least one of those traits to his children: when they leave a room, they turn out the lights.