Tribute

Bob, a gentleman in every sense, a quiet man who loved nature and saw and heard through the beauty of all creation the declaration of the glory of God our Creator and Redeemer (Psalm 19:1), turned his face Homeward and passed peacefully into the presence of his Lord on September 21. Born and raised in Sacramento in a Christian family, Bob went each summer to camp meetings in Calgary. Like many youths, he sampled what he thought was freedom in the wild side of life before returning to the narrow path to true freedom in Christ. Bob was a sharp, quick, tidy and orderly man and thinker who found himself working for the government in Sacramento despite preferring to work with his hands and among real, ordinary people outside the confines of offices and cities. When he met Patti, with their shared love of being outdoors and their distaste of the rush and confines of Sacramento, Bob asked if she’d like to go to Canada to live. Within three months they married and headed north, settling in Fraser Lake where Bob’s career in the sawmill industry unfolded. His consistent honesty and integrity were undeniable, appreciated by many and resented by others. In the north, Patti and Bob’s shared love of the quiet outdoors flourished as they enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening. After Bob’s retirement, they came to Powell River to enjoy the best of creation in the quiet and slow pace here. Bob knew God’s thoughts are nothing like ours, His ways higher than anything we can imagine (Isaiah 55:8) and as he lived his life and reflected on it, the depth and truth of God’s higher ways filled Bob with humbleness, gratitude and awe of God’s love and care for us as steadily revealed in ordinary life. As his body weakened, his love of God and the Truth increased and strengthened. He was nourished by studying the Bible and eager to share what he’d learned of God’s grace and faithfulness with friends and strangers alike, his whole life calmly inviting others to enter full life and freedom that comes only through believing and receiving the grace of our Lord Jesus (John 14:6). Bob’s peaceful passing that radiated the hope that was before him breathed the beauty of Truth and the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ as stated in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Left to remember Bob with “the peace that passes all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7) are his wife Patti, his brother Bill in Sacramento, stepsister Ramona Mantzouranis in Tuolumne, his son Bobby Lee Anderson in Port Angeles and many friends. Thank you, Bob, for the legacy of everlasting Love. “Jesus told him,’I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me,” (John 14:6).