Robert Arthur Brunner

Robert A. (Bob) Brunner, of Atascadero, California, did Saturday, April 23rd, 2022, at the age of 99, just shy of his 100th birthday. Interment will be at the Los Osos Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Osos, California. Services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on 2600 Ramona Rd., Atascadero, California. He is survived by his 3 sons, Glenn, his wife Karen and their 7 children; Scott R.; Mark and his wife Lori and their 4 children, a daughter Sheila and her husband Michael Confer and their 8 children; their youngest son, Garth and his wife Lorna and their daughter, Kayla and 26 Great Grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Gladyce Joy (Robison) Brunner and his only sister Sylvia Benedict and her husband Louis.

He was born to Arthur J. Brunner and Cleda K. (Crooks) Brunner in Nampa, Idaho, on June 9, 1922. When one year old they move to Southern California where he spent the remainder of his childhood, graduating from Banning High School in Wilmington, in 1941 while living in their home on Don St.. he attended Compton Jr. College, graduating in 1943, and with an AA degree. Following his graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Radioman, after which time he was released following the end of World War II, and finished his education at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo on the GI Bill, graduating in 1950.

Robert met his wife Gladyce Robison while working at Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City, California. They were married in the Mesa Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 25 October 1955, in Mesa, Arizona.

Robert served in many lay positions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served as 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric of the Buena Park Ward in Orange County, California, and as a Bishop of the Anaheim 5th Ward, Anaheim Stake, for 4-1/2 years, and as a High Council member. While serving a Family History Center mission with his wife in Salt Lake City he also served as a counselor to the Branch resident. He served in many and varied other capacities, as a teacher and leader, while residing in the Orange County area and in the Atascadero Second Ward in the same Church.

He was ordained a Patriarch in the Cypress California Stake in Orange County, California on the 9th of December 1979. He served in this capacity until he moved with his wife to Atascadero following his 1985 retirement from Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo, CA as an Aerospace Systems Engineer where he worked, among other things, to put a man on the moon. Six months later he was sustained as a Patriarch in the San Luis Obispo California Stake until his release in 2015.

Following his retirement he and his wife served for 2-1/2 years at the Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the first week of each month from 1990 until 1993. He then served a mission with his wife, Gladyce, in the Salt Lake City Family History Mission from June 1, 1993 until August 1994 with occasional visits from children and grandchildren. Following their return to Atascadero they began serving at the Los Angeles Temple from 1995 until November 2008. In addition to his patriarchal duties he has also served faithfully in the local Family History Center and was a member of the Maryland Genealogical Society and the San Luis Obispo Genealogical Society.

Bob enjoyed scouting as a youth; and sports including golf, tennis and swimming. His latest hobby was fresh-water fishing both in Santa Margarita Lake and the Eastern High Sierras. He went on hiking and trout fishing trips with his sons, son in law and some of his grandsons at various times. He enjoyed landscaping their yard in Atascadero, and was an avid researcher on his own Family History. Once he and his wife traveled to the British Isles to visit Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Northern England to see some of he and his wife’s ancestral homelands.