Robert (Bob) Hayden Dunn

Robert "Bob" Hayden Dunn, 93, passed away on August 24, 2025, in Rancho Mirage, California, due to complications from a stroke. He was born on April 23, 1932, in Enid, Oklahoma.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Pauline Slover Dunn and Ovid Hayden Dunn of Duncan, Oklahoma; his sister, Helen Dunn Gouin of Easton, Maryland; nephews, Jerry Gouin and Richard Gouin; and the love of his life, Dixie Golladay Dunn of Dallas, Texas.

He is survived by his daughter, Dr. Suzanne Dunn (Laura); nieces, Jane Gouin DeBord and Sylvia Dileo (Sam); great-nephews, Jeffrey Gouin (Tara) and Chase DeBord (Tim); and his longtime dear friends, Rev. Marilyn Dickson, Ann Tibbs, and Larry Stewart.

A proud second-generation graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Bob was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and an avid Boomer Sooner football fan. He built an accomplished career in geology, beginning as a roughneck in the West Texas oil fields, working his way up to president of a Texas-based oil-investment firm. He had earned the highly regarded designation of California Registered Geologist, a mark of professional excellence. He concluded his career as a hydrogeologist for the State of New Mexico, where he lived for 22 years before moving to California in retirement.

Bob was also a second-generation private aviator and even piloted his great-nephew's plane as an octogenarian. He loved the mountains, especially the Colorado and Canadian Rockies. As a youth, he was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and spent memorable summers at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico. Tales from those summers in the 1940's at Philmont spent blazing hiking trails for the ranch - still in use today - became the subjects of bedtime stories later on for his young daughter. Beyond his love of Sooner football, fly fishing, and golf were his sports of choice. Known for his generosity and pun-loving self-deprecating sense of humor, he was the consummate host, especially during his legendary St. Patrick's Day parties in Santa Fe, where he relished being "Irish for a day."

To his daughter, he was a steadfast source of love and encouragement-"my rock and biggest fan who always urged me to do my best in whatever I chose to do in life." To his friends and family, he will be remembered as a kind-hearted, good man, a loyal friend, and a life well lived.