Robert Gluck Plucker

Longtime resident and farmer Robert Gluck Plucker passed away on August 9, 2023, at the age of 96. Bob was born on July 22, 1927, to Fritz and Dolphia Plucker in Walla Walla, WA, and was raised on the family wheat farm homesteaded by his grandparents, Charles and Catherine Plucker, near Touchet, WA.

Bob was an accomplished athlete playing football, basketball, and baseball for Touchet and Walla Walla High School, where he won the coveted Brown Trophy. He also played a year of football at the University of Washington. Whenever he and the family gathered to watch Husky football on TV later in life, he would always point out the 35-yard line, yelling out, “That’s where I caught my (one and only) pass!”. His other great catch while at UW was the beautiful Marian Harris. They married and moved to the family farm where they raised their family.

Bob was a member of the Touchet-Gardena Lions Club, Walla Walla Elks Club, and the Walla Walla Valley Prop Twisters. Bob’s hobby was building and flying model airplanes, most of which were built from scratch. It was always a thrill when he completed a plane and went to the top of the hill on Plucker Road with Marian and the kids to watch as the “free flight” plane made its maiden flight with the kids racing across the wheat fields to be the first to find where the plane landed (or crashed). When the kids got older and finally had enough and refused to chase the plane down, he reconfigured and started building radio-controlled airplanes. He became a fixture of the Walla Walla Valley Prop Twisters, where members and guests would always gather around to see what kind of unique or WW I airplane he had to fly that day.

Harvest time was the event of the year, and Bob was always proud of teaching all of his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids different parts of farming, such as driving combine, driving wheat trucks, and running the elevator (where many a case of beer was owed to him by the elevator operator for plugging it up!). But it was Marian’s harvest dinners and Bob’s sense of humor and well-worn jokes that never got old that capped off each harvest day that made so many memories.

Despite many hardships faced by dryland wheat farmers, Bob was always able to overcome them. A testament to his stewardship of the 154-year-old Plucker Family Farm can be seen today with the recently refurbished over-one hundred-year-old barn and a song covered by grandkids and other family members (“Where Wheat (Corn) Don’t Grow,” placed on YouTube) honoring Bob and his work ethic.

Bob was preceded in death by his wife, Marian. He is survived by his five children: Steve (Jeannie), Shar (Will), Nick (Sharron), Don (Liz), and Ron (Kyoko), 10 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will take place at the Family Farm on October 21, 2023, from 1pm-3pm.

Memorial contributions may be made to Walla Walla Community Hospice or a charity of choice through the Herring Groseclose Funeral Home, 315 W. Alder St., Walla Walla, WA 99362. In addition, friends and family are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.herringgroseclose.com.