November 22, 1925 - September 25, 2018
Robert Earl Woodley Obituary Robert (Bob) Earl Woodley, of Richland, Washington, loving husband and father of two sons, passed away Tuesday, September 25, 2018 in Spokane, Washington, after a short illness at the age of 92. Bob was born on November 22, 1925 in Portland, Oregon to Earl Fonda and Mildred Julia (Wilhelm) Woodley and was their only child. After graduating from Washington High School in Portland in January, 1944, Bob enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Forces and served in active duty until honorably discharged in October 1945 following the end of World War II. Bob enrolled in Oregon State University in January, 1946, and joined the Theta Chi Fraternity which he maintained a lifelong interest in. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in June, 1949, and then attended the University of Washington, obtaining a Master of Science degree in Chemistry in August, 1951. In July, 1951, Bob started employment with the General Electric Company at the Hanford Works in Richland, Washington. There he met Patsy Lou Horky and they were married on September 13, 1952. Following the birth of two sons, Norman Earl (1954) and Charles Edward (1957), Bob took a leave of absence from GE and he and his family moved to Corvallis, Oregon, for three years where he pursued a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry at Oregon State University which he received in June, 1965. The Woodley family returned to Richland in 1960 where Bob returned to work for GE and later Battelle-Northwest and the Westinghouse Hanford Company where he conducted research on graphite chemistry and ceramic fuels for nuclear reactors, retiring in 1987. Bob had a very intellectually curious mind, and outside of work he enjoyed several natural history pursuits. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Bob had a sustained interest in North American butterflies. He maintained correspondence with leading amateur butterfly collectors across the country, and many family weekends and summer vacations were centered around butterfly collecting areas. Bob was particularly interested in butterflies of the arctic/alpine biomes which led to summer camping trips to the North Cascades, the Canadian Rockies, and two trips up the Alaska Highway. The second Alaska-Yukon trip in 1966, a drive totaling 7200 miles, included jaunts north of Dawson City, Yukon on the Dempster Highway and north of Fairbanks along the Steese Highway, ending in Circle, Alaska which was as far north as you could drive in the state at the time. Mt. McKinley (now Denali) National Park was also visited. The family fondly remembers these extended, sometimes primitive camping trips and the beautiful landscapes visited. Bob�s extensive butterfly collection of about 3000 specimens was donated to the Oregon State Arthropod Collection at Oregon State University in 1999. � To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Robert, please visit our Tree Store. Read more Events SEP 25
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