Bob D, Fronterhouse

Bob Fronterhouse passed away in Dover, NH on Thursday, August 23, 2018 after a long and productive life.

Born in Stillwater, OK in 1928 to Pearl (Hicks) Fronterhouse and Ward C. Fronterhouse, he graduated from Salina High School (Kansas) Class of 1946. There, as a running back, his team was not only undefeated but also unscored on for the entire season. Following high school Bob served in the Navy (1946-48) and returned to graduate from Ottawa University and Berkeley Divinity School, Berkeley, CA. He enjoyed his ministries to the Hopi in Arizona and later to the Crow Indians in Montana as well as to the people in Gilmanton NH through the Gilmanton Town Ministry.

He received an MFA from the University of Texas in Austin which lead him to university teaching and directing theater and occasionally acting, a vocation that also took him to the Gaslight Theater in Enid, OK where he directed for some years and where he also directed the Garfield County Nutrition program.

Bob published his first book, The Liberal Leanings of the Liberating Lamb, in 2016 at the age of 88 and was working on another book, this time humorous, at the time of his death. His Facebook page quotes that he "enjoyed his life as a struggling playwright and fiction writer". He also published a number of short plays. He had a quick sense of humor that he used in his plays and writings as well as in life, even extending more recently, to politics.

Bob traveled extensively, living and writing in England for five years, and later with his wife Sally where they traveled both in the U.S. and abroad, including a trip to Tanzania. In recent years they traveled many times to Austria to vacation with his son and grandchildren. He first became a grandfather at 80 and he enjoyed it thoroughly. He also enjoyed communication with family and old friends.

Bob was a serious golfer throughout his life beginning in junior high school. He and Sally played frequently through last summer when he was 89. So serious was his addiction to golf, he passed away ready to play, wearing his golf hat, should the moment come when he could get in one more round.

During the last five years they traveled to Carlsbad, CA during the winter to enjoy the warm weather and to be able to continue to play golf. Because they had a much loved golden retriever (Rippy, short for Euripides), they drove across the country and back, stopping with relatives in Chicago, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and visiting the Grand Canyon, a place that Bob loved. They enjoyed the drive so much that they continued this practice even after Rippy passed away.

Bob is survived by his wife, Sally Hartman Fronterhouse, a son, Kris Fronterhouse of Bend, OR, a son, Robert Jon and three grandchildren in Austria (Anna Lee, David Noel, and Julian Alexander Fronterhouse), and a daughter, Jeanette Fronterhouse Mueller and her husband, James Mueller, of Claremore, OK. He also leaves sisters, Barbara Nickelson of Oxnard, CA, and Kay Hubbard of Oklahoma City, OK. He was predeceased by three other sisters, Mary Jean Fronterhouse, Wanda Taylor and Carolyn Sue Fronterhouse-Knutson. In addition, he leaves three step sons, Daniel, Andrew, and Matthew Hartman, five grandchildren on his wife's side and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held in Tulsa, OK on October 10 at 1:30 pm at Southminster Presbyterian Church, 3500 S. Peoria Avenue, Tulsa, OK.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Bob's memory to Habitat for Humanity or to the Audubon Society.