Robert David Anderson

June 11, 1954 - March 7, 2019

Robert David Anderson, a Master Storyteller, Salmon Slayer, Baby Whisperer, Cider Squeezer, Semi-professional Pyromaniac and Closet Conservationist, left this world too soon. He died suddenly of cardiac arrest on March 7.

He was born on June 11, 1954, to Jacqueline Ann and Loren Elmo Anderson in St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised in Henderson, Nevada.

In 1972, he met the love of his life, Cyndi Reilly, during their first month of school together at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. They were married in 1976 in Fort Worth, Texas. Later, they lived in Las Vegas, Nevada where Bob inspected restaurants and pools for the Clark County Health Department and Cyndi taught school. In 1979, after failed attempts at growing a garden and making compost in Las Vegas, they moved to Brownsville, Oregon where gardening and compost making was easy.

After working as a realtor and a short stint at the Benton County Health Department, Bob was hired by Marion County Health Department and worked there for 30 years as an award winning environmental health specialist. Creative and enterprising, Bob was also an entrepreneurial business owner. He was dedicated to his community; he served on the Planning Commission, sat on the City Council, then elected as mayor (at the time the youngest in the state), and also served on a variety of community boards and committees. In addition, he was a member of the Central Linn School Board for ten years and a community leader, always striving to support and empower his adopted hometown.

The family that will always love and miss him includes wife, Cyndi Anderson of Brownsville; children and grandchildren, Reilly, Renee, River and Rocky Anderson of Portland, Oregon; Kate, Ryan and Brighton Hooper of Chicago, Illinois; Hannah and Dakota Hopla of Brownsville; mother, Jackie Anderson of Seal Rock, Oregon; sister, Sandy Hill and husband Warren of Boise, Idaho; gads of other family members spread across the US; and his beloved Boykin Spaniel, Boone.

To celebrate Bob, donations can be made to Great Old Broads for Wilderness of which he was a member, or to the food bank at Sharing Hands in Brownsville. If you would like to help Bob fulfill his plan to build a tree house for his grandchildren, donations of labor or materials may be made for the construction of Bobbo's World by contacting project forewoman Joni Nelson at 541-466-3084 or email at billnjoni@peak.org.

A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 24 at Central Linn High School in Halsey. The family invites written memories of Bob to include in a collection to share with his grandchildren.

AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.