Robert H. Powner

Robert H. “Bob” Powner, age 84, of Grants Pass, died on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at his home.

Interment will be at Eagle Point National Cemetery on Friday, November 2, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. A memorial service will also be held at First Christian Church, 305 SW H Street in Grants Pass on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. with Reverend Wes Winn officiating. Hull and Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements. Contributions may be made to First Christian Church.

Bob was born on January 23, 1923 at Forest Hill, Indiana. He grew up on a farm and graduated from Clarksburg High School in 1941. He married his first wife, Ginny, in 1942 before joining the United States Navy in February 1943 during World War II. He served aboard an LST (Landing Ship Tank) as a Quartermaster 1/C whose duties were communication and navigation. He participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and then entered the Pacific Theater of War and was in Okinawa preparing for the invasion of Japan proper when the war ended upon the surrender of Japan. He was honorably discharged from the service in November, 1945.

Bob later attended Philips University College of the Bible and the Graduate Seminary in Enid, Oklahoma. He was ordained in the Christian ministry in 1958. He served churches in Oklahoma and Kansas before moving to California. He worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Caltech) in Pasadena for fourteen years as Senior Contracts Negotiator, purchasing subsystems for unmanned spacecraft. During this time he married his second wife, Virginia.

In 1979, he and his third wife, Betty, moved to Grants Pass and purchased and operated the Fort Vannoy Market and Deli on Upper River Road. Upon selling the market in 1985 he built a woodshop and manufactured furniture as a subcontractor for Treasure Line Woodworks. He also donated furniture for the nurseries at Bethany Presbyterian and First Christian and for Family Friends. His wife, Betty, passed away in 1999.

In 2002, Bob married Alice Scriber, who survives. Other survivors include three children, Dorothy Holzhouse of Bryan, Ohio; Bob Powner II of Greenburg, Indiana; and Brant Powner of Virginia Beach, Virginia; three stepsons, John Rusoff of Portland, Oregon, Jim Rusoff of Grants Pass, Oregon and Mark Pont of Encino, California; 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

A daughter, Mary Ann, preceded him in death.