Bobby Dean Funkhouser

Long time Comanche resident, Bobby Dean Funkhouser, 91, made his entrance into heaven on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at Hillcrest South Hospital in Tulsa. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday, June 13 at Bailes Polk Funeral Home, 910 W. Oak Ave., Duncan with Rev. W.W. Harkins and Rev. Larry Martin officiating. Interment will follow in Fairlawn Cemetery at Comanche. A come-and-go visitation for family and friends will take place at Bailes Polk Funeral Home on Wednesday, June 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Bobby was born Sept. 17, 1932 at the home of his grandparents, Moses and Macy Shelby, in Comanche. He was the fifth and youngest child of Walter Byron and Tempie Tiny (Shelby) Funkhouser.

As a boy, Bobby was a student at Oak College and Oak Cliff schools west of Comanche, plus he attended school on the DiGiorgio Ranch in California and later in Hood River, Ore. before graduating from Comanche High School in 1951.

After high school, Bobby tried his hand at a number of occupations, sanitation worker for the City of Comanche, construction laborer on the Perkins Building in Duncan, house moving with his Uncle Noah Shelby, and roughnecking in the oil patch for his Uncle Ernie Shelby.

Following several deferments, Bobby was drafted into the Army on July 27, 1955 and stationed at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. He was an M8 tank operator and served his country until being honorably discharged as a PFC on July 28, 1957.

After returning home, Bobby’s mother decided he was entirely too old to not be married, so she and a neighbor began conspiring, and on Feb. 8, 1958, Bobby and Paulette Maureen Morgan were married in Comanche. Cupid just needed a little help! Two children soon followed, Lisa in August 1959 and Gregg in April 1961.

Bobby was a shade tree mechanic and worked for Dutch Fitzgerald Chevrolet and Buck’s Mobile Service Station both in Comanche. He was also employed at Montgomery Ward and Halliburton in Duncan, but in 1967, he took a leap of faith and enrolled in electrician’s school in Oklahoma City. Bobby had found his niche and immediately took a job in Wichita Falls before transitioning to Dewey’s Electric in Duncan. After honing his skills, Bobby and Paulette opened Bob’s Electric in 1973 in Comanche and were in business until 1994. After closing his shop, Bobby worked another 20-plus years for Newton’s Plumbing and Electric just down the street.

Lifelong residents of this area until moving to Duncan in 2017, Bobby and Paulette resided southwest of Comanche on the farm Paulette’s parents purchased in the mid-1940’s. Bobby was not a farmer, but he loved the country life. Watching the cattle and then later deer as they migrated into southwest Stephens County, harvesting pecans, brush hogging the pastures, working in the garden, and stalking his nemesis the gopher always kept him entertained. He was quite proud of the fact that in one year he successfully trapped over 100 gophers on their 80-acre farm! After Paulette’s passing in October 2021, Bobby was eventually agreeable to Lisa moving him to Broken Arrow…relocating in March 2023.

Bobby was born with rhythm, and in his younger days, he was a wooden top champion and an amazing dancer. Bobby was shy and not the most popular student, but that all changed when he stepped on the dance floor. When he and his partner began moving to the music, patrons would literally clear the floor to watch them in action. Bobby also had the gift of being able to fix anything (appliances, vehicles, plumbing, & electric), but a carpenter…not so much. His patience had no limits. He was willing to tackle just about anything…even helping Lisa with her 4-H sewing projects. Bobby also had a competitive streak and in his later years enjoyed a good game of dominos…and especially loved to win.

Although Bobby never played sports himself, he was an avid fan and spectator. He and Paulette were always in attendance at Gregg’s football games, and they traveled to as many of the grandchildren’s sporting and school events as possible. He was so proud that his grandson Steffen had recently completed LPN school and that his granddaughter Savannah had just been accepted into medical school at the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine.

An eternal optimist…that was Bobby. The glass was always running over. He was seldom in a bad mood, and the older he got the wittier he became. He was prone to tickling himself and would laugh so hard that watching him became funnier than the comment he had just made.

Bobby was a self-taught musician on the guitar, bass guitar, and piano. He loved music and literally whistled as he worked…which was both a source of amusement and annoyance to those within earshot! Prior to accepting Christ as his Savior, his

musical talents were only heard in local honky-tonks, but as he liked to say, his bass guitar got “saved” and he played it for over 50 years at First Assembly of God in Comanche (later Praise Assembly). Besides his involvement with music, he and Paulette were faithful members of the church where he served as a Sunday school teacher, deacon, and donated his talents as an electrician.

Bobby loved the Lord and loved people, a wonderful combination. He was soft-spoken, soft-hearted, caring, encouraging, and always concerned about the people around him, and his love language was a big bear hug.

Bobby never ventured too far from his roots, married a hometown girl, raised two children on a farm next door to his parents, and pretty much lived a simple life. Working as an electrical contractor was his profession, playing the bass guitar was his gift and passion, and living every day for the Lord was his purpose.

Bobby is survived by a daughter, Lisa Ingle and her husband, Rome, of Broken Arrow; a son, Gregg Funkhouser, and his wife, Robbie, of Jacksonville, Fla., and two grandchildren, Steffen and Savannah Funkhouser, of Jacksonville. He is also survived by a nephew, Harold Funkhouser of Eufaula and three nieces, Barbara Hausinger of Parkdale, Ore., Charlotte Camp of Eufaula, and Carol Martin of Duncan. He was preceded in death by his wife Paulette, his parents, a sister, Margie Lorene (Funkhouser) Hakala, and three brothers, Ephraim Byron, Walter Junior, and Gene Austin.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International at https://www.sendtheword.org/ for the purchase and distribution of Bibles around the world.