Robert Chalmers (Bob) Kuder
Robert Chalmers (Bob) Kuder was born on a farm in St. Joseph, Illinois December 16, 1920 to Frank and Juanita Bell Gibson Kuder. He died February 12, 2018 at the age of 97.
Bob graduated the University of Illinois with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1942 and was shortly thereafter married to his first wife of over 55 years, Myrtle Louise Everett Kuder. Together they had three sons and a number of grandchildren.
Like everyone in his generation, shortly after graduating university Bob joined the war effort applying his engineering skills to defense research and development. After the war, Bob joined the Civil Service which provided him and his young family the opportunity to live in Morocco, Libya, Italy and Germany. In the summers, he took the family all over Europe camping. In the winters, they rented small chalets in the Italian alps for holiday ski trips. Bob’s Civil Service also took him to New England for a few years during the ‘60’s where some Kuders still reside to this day!
In 1975 Bob retired and, after a stint of travel across the country, he and Myrtle settled down in Wimberley, TX. There they build their dream retirement home and Bob settled in to the place he would call home for over the next 40 years. Bob loved Wimberley and it showed in all he did: member of the first Senior Center board; helped build the Visitor Center, past Lions Club president and long serving member; president of Habitat for Humanity who secured the tax-exempt state charter; founding member of Wimberley Players; volunteer in many organizations such as Community in Schools Committee, Wimberley Career Center, San Marcos-Hays-Caldwell Drug & Alcohol Abuse Council and others. Bob and Myrtle were also founding members of the Wimberley United Methodist Church. Myrtle died in 1997.
Bob met and married Barbara Uhlinger Guenther in 1999 welcoming her and her three grown sons and families into his family. For close to 20 years Bob and Barb traveled the world while continuing to play an active role in their local community.
Everybody who met Bob loved him. He was a real charmer and shall be missed by his three sons, Barb and her sons, and the numerous grandchildren who also knew him as Opa . His ashes will be interred in the Bay View Memorial Garden, Petosky, MI. Memorial contributions may be made to the Wimberley United Methodist Church or charity of choice.