Robert ‘Bob’ Edward Tyler – June 16, 1937 – Jan. 27, 2020
Robert ”Bob” Edward (Munger) Tyler passed away on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, quietly in his sleep in his home in Creswell, Ore. He was encircled by a loving family.
He was born Robert Edward Munger on June 16, 1937 in Inglewood, Calif. Bob spent a portion of his youngest years in an orphanage, as his mother had fallen on hard times. At the age of 16, Bob was adopted by his stepfather and his name was legally changed to Robert Edward Tyler.
He graduated from Monrovia High School in 1955. While in high school, he played clarinet in the marching band and performed in the Rose Bowl Parade with fellow clarinetist and his future wife, Janice Kay ”Jan” Chalette.
Bob and Jan married on April 27, 1957. Bob joined the United States Air Force, was stationed in Japan and worked in intelligence. After returning to Garden Grove, Calif., Bob and Jan started their family. Deciding to pursue a dream of owning and working a bit of land, Jan and Bob settled with their two young children, Stormy and Rory, into a small house on a 20-acre parcel in Dexter, Ore., where they raised animals, grew hay and eventually built the home of their dreams.
During this time, Bob worked his way up the ranks in the United States Postal Service, first as a carrier in Eugene, then postmaster of Dexter, then Creswell. He was temporarily assigned the position of interim postmaster of Cottage Grove. He worked on special assignment designing and implementing the Zip+4 Program for Southern Oregon (before computers!).
After retiring from the postal service, Bob kept busy flipping houses, managing his rental properties and bowling in a couple of leagues.
In 2016, Bob and Jan sold their piece of heaven and moved to a new gated community in Creswell to be near his son, Rory, and his family.
In Creswell, Bob tended his garden of vegetables and flowers, and enjoyed Sunday breakfasts at TJ’s Restaurant with the family and the camaraderie of his bowling partners.
Being busy with work for the postal service and managing a small farm didn’t stop Bob from his commitment to public service. As a young man, Bob was a master councilor of the Monrovia Chapter of the Order of DeMolay.
After settling in Dexter, Bob eventually became master of the Lowell Grange, charter member and a vice president of the Dexter Pleasant Hill Lions Club, board member of Pleasant Hill School District No 1, and chaperone/volunteer to many school events (plays, sports, music).
He participated in community events, trying his hand at acting in plays and helping to organize fundraisers through the Lowell Grange – even riding in the Pony Express during the Dexter Bicentennial Celebration.
Bob was a soft-spoken man who loved his family, music of all genres, all animals, fishing, gardening, bowling, dancing (ballroom to Swingin’ 58ers square dance), watching tennis and Oregon Ducks football, fixing things and photography – the subject of which was often the many moods of Mount Zion, which he could see from the windows of his home in Dexter.
Bob loved a good debate. In fact, he loved the intellectual exercise so much that he would change sides in a debate, if he was winning, just to keep the conversation going. His intellectual curiosity drove him to research everything. He believed that if one could read about a topic, one could master it. He was generous, analytical, kind and dependable.
As much as Bob’s physical presence will be missed, his legacy will live on through his good works, the values of integrity and generosity he instilled, and the characteristics of intellectual curiosity and the dry sense of humor he passed on to his children and their children.
Bob is survived by his wife of 62 years, Janice Kay (Chalette) Tyler; brother Joseph Tyler (Mary Ellen); children Stormy Moloney, Rory Tyler (Donna) and Jeanna Cameron; grandchildren Brenna, Dillon, Meghan, Tanner (Tashia) and Ian; and many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his mother, Eunice Bernice (Graham) Tyler and his father, Joseph Willard Tyler; and two brothers, Wesley Munger and Lee ”Bud” Munger.
There will be a celebration of life on Sunday, Feb. 16. The family requests that those wishing to make a donation in Bob’s name do so to the disabled veteran’s organization of their choice.
