Robert "Bob" Buckwalter

Robert Dale Buckwalter
November 18, 1944–April 27, 2026

Robert Dale Buckwalter entered this world on November 18, 1944, a very special child being the first son of Robert and Faith Buckwalter and first grandson on both sides of the family. An older sister, Linda (Roy Breneman) preceded him, and ten siblings followed him: Judy, Joyce (Bob Samuels), John (Laurel Grasdorf), Leon (Susan Greene), Marian (deceased) Mary Ann (Clint Good), Leslie (deceased), Debra (Rory McCrea), Steve (Marian Becker), and Carole (Bill Schumacher). Four sons have been the highlight of our lives: Russell Dean (Cheryl Filewych), Bruce Owen (Rose Shenk), Joseph Daniel (Sera Whitmore), and Jesse David (Jill Maynard). Twelve grandchildren: Jessica, Katlyn, and Levi Buckwalter; Christian, Andrew, Daniel, and Jacob Stoltzfus; Noah, Luke, and Malia Buckwalter; Adah and Miles Buckwalter. Two great grandchildren: Naomi and Josiah Stoltzfus.

When Bob was eight years old, his parents heeded a mission call to move from their family clans in Lancaster County, PA to help with a church plant in Yorks Corners, NY. In addition, they purchased a farm to raise their family on. It was quite the adventure for the young lad as cattle, machinery and home furnishings all were moved to what felt like a faraway land. That was the start of what turned out to be an adventurous life.

Born into a home of faith in God where community was a key part of the Mennonite expression of faith, Bob returned to Lancaster County to attend Lancaster Mennonite High School where he lived with his Steffy grandparents for his last two years of high school. This was followed by four years at Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, VA. It was in college that he decided to do what he had wanted to do since he was fifteen years old–court the young lass who had caught his eye while attending a camp for teens. Eastern Mennonite College brought them together. Bob and Betty Lou Umble were married October 2, 1965, in an open-sided tabernacle at Black Rock Retreat in PA. The marriage was a most companionable sixty and a half years together.

Life together started in The Bronx, New York City, where Bob served two years of I-W alternative service for conscientious objectors. He majored in pre-med in college, then switched to International Agriculture and Development thanks to a favorite professor who encouraged his protege to enter fields of work helping to prevent disease. He acquired a master's degree in Agronomy at Cornell University.

Bob was now ready for an overseas assignment with Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions (EMBM). This took us to Tanzania, Somalia, and Ethiopia, after which Bob opted to give our sons some experience of life on a farm and purchased a maple tree farm in Andover, NY where the family made 400 gallons of maple syrup annually. Then back to Africa with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to Zambia, and a final stint with EMBM in Kenya for a total of eleven years in Africa.

Alaska had been calling Bob for years, so we served under Mennonite Mission Network’s Service Adventure program in Anchorage. He then got a job writing pesticide rules for Alaska. We ended up owning a B&B in Tok, AK, before retiring in the mountains of VA next door to a previous home. The biologist in Bob loved flora and fauna of every kind; hiking the mountains was a key way to enjoy that.

Bob was more of a listener than talker, but when he had something to say, it was usually wise or witty. He was a voracious reader; he loved studying and learning; he had every kind of practical skill; he could do anything he set his curious mind on. He had a knack for teaching his sons how to be men of integrity, which they learned alongside the innumerable practical skills they absorbed just by being with him. He made learning something you want to do. “Work is something you get to do, rather than something you have to do.”

Underneath it all, Bob was solid as a rock in his commitment to a benevolent, just, yet merciful God, the giver and provider of life now and for eternity.

A memorial service celebrating Bob’s life will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at Zion Mennonite Church.

If you feel moved to give a gift, please consider a donation to Mennonite Central Committee www.mcc.org/get-involved/giving/designations/give-where-its-needed-most or The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, www.brafb.org/.