Former longtime Pendleton, Ore. resident Robert W. “Bob” Reese passed away in Spokane, Wash. On June 2, 2019. Born in Spokane in 1941, Bob was raised in Cheney.
He graduated from Washington State University in 1964 with a degree in business administration. He went to work for Sherwood & Roberts as a loan officer in both Walla Walla and Seattle between 1965 and 1967.
He met his wife, Sherry, in Walla Walla during the summer of 1965. They were married in Seattle in 1966 where Sherry was finishing her teaching degree from the University of Washington. They moved to Wenatchee, Wash. in 1967 where Bob served as senior vice president of Community Savings & Loan for nine years. There he expanded the real estate finance activities to include all of Eastern Washington.
In 1976 he was hired as president of First Federal Savings & Loan in Pendleton, Ore. The name was later changed to Western Heritage Savings & Loan. Under him the institution increased their assets from $70 million to $170 million and their branches from three to seven. They also expanded their lending activities through subsidiary offices into Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Texas. Under his presidency a new home office was built in Pendleton in 1980 that now houses the Old West Federal Credit Union.
In 1985, Western Heritage merged with Ben Franklin Savings & Loan and Bob oversaw 23 branches in four states for them. During those years he also attended the School for Executive Development at the University of Washington and the Graduate School of Savings & Loans at the University of Indiana.
In 1990 he realized he would have to move to Portland to stay with Ben Franklin. His 10-year-old twins informed him they were not going. He decided to seek some wisdom from Sister Helen Ann, who was the administrator of St. Anthony Hospital where he was serving on their board. She invited him to come to work for them as vice president of ancillary services and director of the hospital’s foundation. He served there for five years and loved his time at the hospital.
In 1995 he moved to Coldwell Banker Whitney & Associates as vice president of construction development and sales. Then in 1999 he became director of business services for the Pendleton School District, where he had served on the school board for 11 years. After retirement he returned to work for the Umatilla County ESD under Mark Mulvihill for two more years.
Bob always believed he should use his talents to benefit his community and whatever business he was involved with. At the state level he chaired the Oregon League of Financial Institutions from 1985 – 1986 and was chairman of the Governor’s Task Force to study the feasibility of bringing a medium security prison to Pendleton. They were then charged with building a community consensus for what became Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution.
In 1981 he had served as president of the Chamber of Commerce. Throughout subsequent years he chaired the Northeast Oregon Air Service Task Force, was a founding member of the Pendleton Economic Development Board, served on the Round-Up City Development Corp., was on the Umatilla County Budget Committee and the Cascade East Health Plan, on the Port of Umatilla Budget Committee and the State of Oregon Quality Education Model. He also served as an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark College and on the Eastern Oregon State College Support Panel.
In addition, Bob served as an elder at his church, Living Water Foursquare. He was a man of real prayer and once he started walking with the Lord, he never missed a day to rise early and spend time with Him.
With all those activities he was very much a family man and devoted to his wife, Sherry, and their four children: Jennifer, Adam, Stacey and Shelley. Their friends were often included on vacation trips to Priest Lake, Lake Chelan, Sun River and the Oregon Coast. Adam and Jennifer started going to WSU football games at the age of 4, followed later by basketball games. Bob loved sports and took in most of Pendleton sports. His dad had coached at Eastern Washington University for 32 years and he said he learned to read looking over his dad’s shoulder at the sports page.
He was involved for 17 summers as the starter for the Pendleton Swim Association, as all four of his children were swimmers. His oldest granddaughter is on a full ride to UCLA for swimming. She was the No. 1 Division I girls’ swimmer in high school for two years for all of Arizona. Her mom, Jennifer, said it all started because of all the support Bob gave his own daughter while she swam for PSA.
After his passing his family received many messages from swimmers who had been at the meets where he had started. We include some of them here because they were such a blessing: “Your dad was one of the Monarch swim parents of our generation. Kind, supportive, and such a gentle soul to our PSA family.” “Truly a man to be admired and respected. One of my favorite swim dads!” “We all loved your dad so much!”
Bob was an avid reader and usually had five books going at once. He even came to enjoy watching Hallmark movies with Sherry.
He will be very much missed by all his family and friends but has left a wonderful legacy. His oldest granddaughter wrote, “Papa, you were this family’s rock and the most inspirational person to live by. You were so good, so loving, so giving, so kind. I’m so proud to share your last name as my middle name. Heaven gained an amazing soul. I know you are looking out for me still and cheering for me. Thank you for everything.” And Claire’s mom, Jennifer, added: “I measure all men by my Dad.”
A memorial service will be held August 10 at the chapel at Fairmount Memorial Park, 5200 W. Wellesley in Spokane at 1:30 p.m.
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