Robert Elvyn Marple

1929 - 2022

Robert Elvyn Marple
March 11, 1929 - May 18, 2022
Kennewick, Washington - Robert E. Marple was born in Pullman, Washington on March 11th, 1929 and lived a full life until his passing on May 18th, 2022. Bob lived nearly 70 years of his life in Kennewick seeing first-hand, significant change in the Tri-Cities since 1952.
Bob's very existence indirectly hinged on a baseball game. His Dad, Cecil, was a good baseball player (he would have signed with the Spokane Indians had farm responsibilities not called). His mom, Esther, did not care for baseball or Cecil being late for some of their dates and decided to end their relationship if Cecil was late for their next date. Cecil was playing in a ball game on the day of their next date and the game went into extra innings. Cecil was on-time for their date with a few minutes to spare and the two later married.
Bob grew up in the small Palouse farm town of Oakesdale, Washington. Some of the difficulties experienced with his farm chores and barley farming convinced him that grain farming was not for him. Bob was once asked about the size of the garden on their family farm and responded; "It was larger that it should have been from the kid who had to weed it".
After high school (Bob was a good student and lettered in four sports) it was off to Washington State College (now Washington State University) where Bob initially pursued a degree in music. (He had played the clarinet and saxophone in Big Bands and enjoyed writing music.) His career music plans abruptly changed when a music professor was playing a few notes on the piano and asked Bob to sing the notes. Bob replied no thank you and the professor replied that his singing was mandatory. Out the door of the classroom Bob went and changed his major to accounting. (Bob was already taking an accounting course and liked math). Bob graduated cum laude with a BA in business from WSC in 1950. After graduation from WSC, Bob was drafted into the Army for the Korean War. He saw active duty in Korea as part of a field artillery observation group and received a Bronze Star for his efforts during the war.
Getting to Korea was a challenge by itself. Bob took a small ship to Tokyo and everyone stayed below deck for most of the trip. Rough winter seas brought sea sickness to most all onboard, on and off, for 21 days. Once in Tokyo, Bob boarded a small plane to take him to Korea. Enroute, there was a fire on the plane and smoke started to come out of the plane's cabin walls. The plane dropped down to near the sea and was able to land on a small island. A new plane was dispatched to partially complete his transport. The driver taking Bob out to his initial field location at night, supposedly behind the front, was new and got lost. As they drove the wrong direction, they started to hear gun fire but were able to get turned around and get to their behind-the-front destination. Waking after his first night in Korea, Bob had difficulty getting out of his pup tent as it had snowed a couple of feet the night before.
Bob married Lee Ilah Fuhriman in 1951 and the two celebrated 59 years of marriage together until Lee Ilah's passing in 2010. Lee Ilah was there for Bob through thick and thin and was also instrumental in the start and success of the Marple CPA firms. After being discharged from the Army, Bob started his career in public accounting in 1952. He received his Washington State CPA license in 1954, certificate number 1253. Records indicate only 1238 certificates were issued between 1922 and 1954. (The current CPA license number in Washington State is 52,070). He practiced for nearly 70 years still seeing clients into his early 90's. Bob founded the firm Robert E Marple CPA which later became Marple & Marple CPAs. Sons; Steve and Bob Jr., both practiced with Bob as partners/co-owners in the firm along with fellow CPAs; Kent Toyoda and Rosalie Willers, until the firm's sale to PorterKinney in 2019. Bob and long-time friend, John Gravenslund Sr., built the Fruitland Office Center in 1979 where PorterKinney still maintains an office location today.
Bob shared many times that his favorite thing about being a CPA in public practice was his association with his clients and firm employees. Many of the firm's clients and employees thought of Bob as family and Bob certainly thought of them as family. There were some family businesses where Bob worked with three successive generations. Bob was past president of the TC Estate Planning Council, Central Chapter of the WSCPA, Kennewick Kiwanis and Kennewick Toastmasters. He was also an area governor for Toastmasters International.
Bob loved golf and played as long as his body allowed. He was a good golfer carding two hole-in-ones and very much enjoyed the friendship of fellow golfers at the Tri-City Country Club. He was also a proud member of the McDonald's group, McBuddies, and very much enjoyed this coffee fellowship. Bob was a true foodie! For dinner, it did not get much better for Bob than a Caesar salad, a medium-rare steak and slice of cheesecake. (Watch out if the steak was not served medium-rare! Rumor has it he sometimes carried a steak doneness chart and was not shy about sharing his chart if his steak was not properly cooked).
When asked in a family video interview what advice he would offer to others, Bob shared: be yourself, tell the truth, be a man of your word and be considerate of other people.
Surviving Bob and Lee Ilah are two sons; Steve (Kathy) and Bob (Sue Anne); grandchildren; Eric, Brian, Nathan (Trishell), Mickaela, Brandon (Amy), Justin, Katie; and great-grandchildren; D'Angelo, Adelynn, Ella, Isaiah and Olivia. Bob was predeceased by his sister, June Hyden, who passed earlier this year.
The family would like to thank all of the doctors, professionals and caregivers, including those at Visiting Angels, Heartlinks Hospice and Legacy Adult Family Homes, who helped Bob along his way. We would also like to thank grandsons; Nathan and Brian for their extra efforts in helping both Bob and Lee Ilah in the later years of their lives and daughter-in-law, Sue Anne for the many meals she cooked and delivered to Bob over the years. Everyone's efforts are greatly appreciated.
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Bob's memory to either the First United Methodist Church of Kennewick or Heartlinks Hospice & Palliative Care.
A Celebration of Life will be held this coming Saturday, June 4th, 2022 11:00AM at the Kennewick First United Methodist Church, 2 South Kennewick Avenue in Kennewick, WA. Bob's Celebration of Life will also be live streamed through the Kennewick First United Methodist Church's website. Go to www.kennewickfirst.com and click on "Watch Live Sermons on Our YouTube Page". The family would love to see your stories about Bob. To share online, please visit www.muellersfuneralhomes.com, click on Obituaries and click on Visit Obituary by Bob's picture.