Robert Lee Withers

Robert Lee (Bob) Withers It is with very heavy hearts that the family of Bob Withers announces his passing. Bob left this earth on August 3 at 9:15 PM while two of his sons held his hands. It was very peaceful. It was time that his struggle over the last several months come to an end. He lived a full life, touched the hearts of many, and will be badly missed. Bob was born in Silverton, OR on March 26, 1935 the son of Oliver Lee Withers and Anna Rae Trent Withers. He spent his formative years in Woodburn, OR where his mother and father founded Withers Lumber Co. in 1928. Early on he went to school in Woodburn, working at the lumber yard and picking berries with his older sister Patricia Anne Withers, who always humiliated him with her far superior picking abilities. At Woodburn High School he played Football, Baseball and Basketball and studied enough to get by with his sister, again, making him look bad when the report cards arrived. He was student body president his senior year and was very active in DeMolay. He graduated High school in 1953 and matriculated at Willamette University where he majored in Business Administration. While there he played on the basketball and golf teams. He was a proud member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity where he was editor of the Phi Lights magazine in 1955 and president of the Phi Delta Theta Oregon Gamma chapter in 1957. That was also the year he met the first love of his life, Polley Sue Dougherty, who he would marry on Sept. 6, 1957, shortly after his college graduation. Having entered college under the ROTC program, he fulfilled his military commitment and was initially stationed on the Air Force base in Plattsburgh, NY. There his first son, William Trent Withers arrived in 1958. Shortly thereafter they were stationed in Marrakech, Morocco. In 1962, his stint in the service completed as a Captain, Bob returned to Woodburn and took over at Withers Lumber after the retirement of his father, Lee. When it became clear that he would need more employees to make the lumber yard successful, he decided to have a second son, Terrence Crawford Withers in late 1962 followed by a third in 1963 when Robert Todd Withers joined the group. As you can tell from what we’ve said so far, Bob believed in living a “full life”. And boy did he! During the 60’s and 70’s in Woodburn he was a part of many civic and business groups including the Woodburn Jaycees, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce and Dance Club. The family were all members of the First Presbyterian Church of Woodburn and in fact Bob’s parents donated the land on which the church was built. In his later years he was a very happy member of Christ Community Church in Tualatin. Bob loved sports but they didn’t always love him. He was an avid water skier and snow skier, until the day he badly broke his ankle on the slopes and the Ski Patrol dropped him, and the toboggan he was strapped into, during his “rescue”. He raced down the mountain, out of control, with his saviors in hot pursuit. He lived to tell the tale, but it was a close call no thanks to his rescue team of Laurel and Hardy. Water skiing was sometimes fraught with adventure as well. Like the time his son Trent decided to ski back to the marina in the dark. When he fell, Bob, Terry and Todd spent about an hour doing circles in the river trying to find him. There was no moon and it was pitch-black but drowning was averted. After these mishaps, Bob decided to focus on golf instead which he played frequently for the rest of his life. He also coached all his son’s baseball teams and rarely missed a game whatever sport they were playing. The “coaching” continued throughout his sons lives whether they wanted it or not. He couldn’t stand to see his sons hurt, whether physically or emotionally. Most of the time, this led him to zealously protect them even though his words and actions didn’t always turn out as intended. This led to scenes like the time number three son, Todd, went to bed with gum in his mouth and woke up with it matted nastily in his hair. As Todd howled, his dad tried to remove the offending mass with a scissors and as the blood ran down Todd’s face Bob exclaimed “Now Todd, this isn’t hurting you!” He so wanted that to be true he had to tell himself it was so. We all laugh about that to this day. Besides his family, Bob’s biggest passion was work. He added multiple locations to Withers Lumber in Brooks, Dallas and a floor covering store in Woodburn. In 1963 his sister, Pat, and her husband, Byron, started KWRC radio. It was bold to start a radio station in such a small town, but it was very successful and helped the Withers family further support the community they loved so much. In 1965 Bob and Polley partnered with Jake and Rosie Triplett to start Woodburn Construction Co., a residential home building company which was mostly focused on building many of the homes in Woodburn Senior Estates. He was also involved with Estates Realty Company. He was one of the founding members of Northern Yards, a Lumber buying cooperative, and served as its president in 1973. He was also a member of the Western Building Materials Association and served on the board of directors of the Bank of Oregon (now Key Bank) starting in 1973. In 1972 Bob found love again and married his second wife, Sharyn Fulton. It seemed only natural that another son be added to the brood: Travis Lee Withers arrived in 1975. That made four sons! Who does that? In 1991 he embarked on what might have been the venture he was most proud of, the formation of the Tukwila Partners. This was a group of landowners and investors, (Jay Glatt, Chuck Schultz, Fred Smith, the Burlingham Trust and Withers Lumber) who pooled their resources to donate 150 acres of land (Russ Baglien’s idea!) to the Oregon Golf Association so they could build a golf course in Woodburn that would serve as the Home of Amateur Golf for the state. The partners then developed the land around the course for housing. This is the Tukwila subdivision on Boone’s Ferry Rd. in Woodburn which currently has several hundred homes with about 100 more coming soon. He then undertook what was obviously a true life calling; being the best grandpa he could be to his nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. All of them would congregate at his house for two weeks each summer. They will never forget the Withers Olympics, driving the golf cart, going to the swimming pool and, of course, eating the junk food that Grandpa always had in great supply because he loved it himself. Grandpa loved chocolate donuts, watermelon, popcorn from scratch, waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, milk duds, honey crisp apples, coconut anything and, most famous of all, “grandpa juice” – his grandchildren would reveal the recipe but then they’d have to kill you. He so loved them all and they knew it. The all-girl Christmas shopping trips were epic! The Trail Blazers games with the boys were thrilling and heartbreaking. The golf cart rides were both ill-advised and dangerous. Through it all, his grandchildren Anna, Alex, Ande, Libby, Tatum, Joe, Tristan, Kali and Kobe and his great-grandchildren Olivia and Delaney will carry “pop-pop’s” legacy and fond memories into the next generation. Bob instilled in his sons, and grandchildren, a quest for knowledge and seriousness of purpose while maintaining a sense of humor especially about themselves. He believed that setting high expectations for them would ultimately be to their benefit. He loved to watch others reach their full potential. You wanted so badly to please him, and he always taught that you should work for yourself, not somebody else. Chart your own course. Run your own company. Matter to your community and the people you touch. And, as he did, always laugh when Peter Sellers/Inspector Clouseau comes on the screen in movies like Return of the Pink Panther. When he started laughing, everyone around him laughed too – often uncontrollably. Dad was an amazing father who knew exactly how to teach us, his sons, how to work. Despite difficulties along the way and many starts and stops, he raised all four to do what he did – make a difference through hard work and risk taking. In 1995 he turned over the reins of Woodburn Construction to number two son, Terry, who runs that company to this day which is now focused on commercial construction. In 1999 he retired from Withers Lumber after 37 years of gently caring for his parent’s creation. His eldest son, Trent, took over and remains at the helm today, with the company now in its 92nd year and several of the people Dad hired still on board. Todd Withers is the President of General Networks, a California based computer consulting firm. Travis Withers is the president of Withers Wealth Management, a Salem based financial consulting firm. Words cannot describe how grateful we are for Dad’s teaching and inspiration. He is gone but he is with each of us. No matter where we are, he is with us. Through us, the legacy of his life will endure. We will struggle to achieve what he achieved. We will struggle to measure up and to touch people as he did, and to always laugh at ourselves, loudly. Here’s to a very full life, very well lived. Due to the current situation a family only service will be held at Simon-Cornwell Funeral Chapel on August 14th with internment at Belle Passi Cemetery thereafter. We will hope for a proper funeral next year.

Tributes

Robert Lee Withers

March 26, 1935 - August 3, 2020