Robert Blakely

Robert Blaine Blakely left this life on January 29, 2025, at the age of 93 1/2. Bob was the only child of Matilda Olson Blakely and Robert William Blakely, born on July 26, 1931, in Rock Rapids, Iowa. He was raised in Luverne, Minnesota, where his father ran the local barbershop, and his mother, a homemaker, provided delicious meals and outstanding baked goods. In his early teens, Bob produced honey from beehives he built and placed on local farms. He shared fond memories of working with his mother to extract honey into 5-pound tin cans, which he labeled "From the Apiary of Bob Blakely Jr." and sold at the barbershop. The summer he turned 16, Bob and a friend hitchhiked to Estes Park, Colorado, where he worked in the "glassware department" (aka dishwasher) at the Historic Estes Park Chalets. This adventure sparked his lifelong love of the western mountains and national parks, and his future career in food services. Bob graduated from Luverne High School, attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, and later earned his Hotel and Restaurant Management degree from the University of Denver.

While a student at Augustana, Bob met the love of his life, Carol Fazendin, on the tennis court. Carol lived with her mother and grandmother across the street from the college, and Bob and Carol quickly became sweethearts. They were a dynamic duo: Bob had the big ideas and dreams, and Carol managed the details to make them come true. They lived life as partners for over 70 years and faced challenges with optimism, determination, and love.

They welcomed their first son, Robert Jr., in 1951, and soon after moved to Denver, Colorado. While attending college, Bob worked as a weekend manager at a supper club east of the city. After graduating from the University of Denver, the young family moved north to Fort Collins, where Bob was the assistant director of Food Services for Colorado State University. The family grew with the birth of Cheryl in 1958 and Mark in 1963. In 1964, they headed north to Montana, where Bob was the Director of Food Services for the University of Montana in Missoula.

The family took root in the Rattlesnake neighborhood of Missoula. Bob and Carol enjoyed the social life of U of M activities, and dinner and dancing at the Elks Club and other supper clubs near Missoula, Butte, Helena, and Great Falls. Bob was fortunate to be an inaugural member of the Grizzly Riders International (1966). The University of Montana foundation and a local wilderness outfitter took prospective donors by horseback into the Bob Marshall Wilderness area to camp, fish, eat, and drink amidst nature. Bob and a pilot friend brought in food and supplies by helicopter to keep everyone well-fed. During those same years, the family enjoyed many summer camping trips to Flathead Lake, Seeley Lake, and Glacier Park. The family's Disneyland road trip (Montana to California), pulling a vintage 1960s pop-up camper, "The Rolling Tilting Hilton," while listening to 8-track tapes of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, will never be forgotten. Bob was his sons' biggest fan, attending Bob Jr. 's and Mark's football, basketball, little league baseball, and track events for years.

In the early 1970s, Bob pursued his dream of owning and operating a historic hotel in Great Falls, Montana. The venture was short-lived, and the family returned to Missoula until the late 1970s, when Bob became the Food Services Director for Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts. He embraced the New England lifestyle and mastered the culinary art of New England lobster boils and clambakes for students and alumni. Bob was a savvy manager and improved the bottom line and efficiency of every food service program he led. He was creative, innovative, and focused on providing good food on a budget. If he met a student in need of financial aid, he offered them a dining hall job so they could successfully stay in school or athletic programs. 

Bob was proud of his Norwegian and English ancestry and was a lifelong Lutheran. The family attended St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Missoula. After retiring, Bob and Carol attended Grace First Lutheran in Bend, Oregon, where they were active in the church leadership council, and later Good Shepherd Lutheran in Polson, Montana. Later in life, he was delighted to learn that his great-great-grandmother Sutton was a Seneca Nation tribal member from New York state. When he met someone new, he enjoyed chatting about their ancestry, their part of the country, or where they attended school. He no doubt honed his skill at chit-chat listening to customers while sweeping the floors of his father's barbershop as a child.

Bob was fond of researching and collecting antique clocks. This hobby began as a young boy when he found an old wooden "kitchen clock" with rusting parts in his grandmother's basement. He soaked the parts in kerosene to clean them and repaired it into what is now a family heirloom. He was content when he could hear the clanging and chiming of several clocks, even if they weren't keeping time accurately! 

Bob was a builder at heart, and he and Carol remodeled and built several beautiful homes over the decades. The family favorite was their final home in Polson, Montana, with a gorgeous view of Flathead Lake and the Mission Mountains. Every sunset was new and different from the last.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Carol (2023), and his granddaughter, Monica Blakely. He is survived by his sons, Robert Blakely and Mark (Melissa) Blakely; his daughter, Cheryl Blakely Kirk (Richard); and grandsons Dylan and Austin Blakely, and granddaughters Talor and Claire Kirk. Bob is going full circle and will be laid to rest next to Carol in Sioux Falls, where they met and fell in love 75 years ago.

In the words of a friend: "Let's remember Bob sitting on his deck overlooking Flathead Lake in heaven, watching the water, viewing the mountains while drinking a glass of wine with Carol, gossiping about the local news, and dreaming of the next adventure."

The family wishes to thank Pastor Andrew Bansemer, Pastor Hess, Pastor Jim Abbott, and gracious friends Jon and Boni Leyerzaph for providing spiritual support, generosity, and friendship in Bob's last years.