Robert Rushford Fay Jr.

Former Evansville resident Robert R. Fay, Jr., died on December 25, 2023, in Columbine Valley, Colorado.
Bob was born November 18, 1932, in Evansville to Robert R. Fay, Sr., and the former Emma Lee Cox. He was in the inaugural kindergarten class at Washington Grade School. Bob attended Culver Military Academy where he wrestled and played football. After graduating from Culver in 1950, he enrolled in the University of Virginia and obtained a degree in business administration in 1954. He was a member of the UVA golf team.
After college graduation, Bob fulfilled his NROTC obligation. This led to assignments to various naval installations, such as Newport, Rhode Island, where he met Dale Booth Howell. The introduction was engineered by Dale's mother.
Bob and Dale were married in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1955. After mustering out of the Navy, Bob brought his bride to Evansville and joined his father in the operation of The Evansville Union Stockyards which his grandfather J. E. Cox bought into in 1906.
After the stockyards sold in 1983, Bob and Dale started splitting their time between Evansville and Colorado before relocating permanently to Breckenridge in 1991. During their time there, they entertained many friends from Evansville. Family and friends participated in the Breckenridge Independence Day Parade dressed as American patriots and icons. Bob was Abraham Lincoln, and Dale was the Statue of Liberty.
Bob was an avid hiker, golfer, skier, dirt bike rider, and photographer. As a child, teenager, and young man, he spent many summers at his grandparents' summer home in Estes Park, Colorado, enjoying the mountains and working on trail crew in Rocky Mountain National Park. Bob conquered Colorado's 54 "fourteeners" in 1992 and completed a 25-mile hike up and down Mount Whitney when he was 68. He competed in the City Tournament for many years and various amateur golf matches around the country, winning the Midwestern Amateur Tournament in 1957. Bob worked part-time as a lift attendant and lift operator at Breckenridge Ski Area ("the best job" he ever had) and then volunteered as a mountain host. He rode his dirt bike well into his 70s and had competed in enduro events previously. Taking photographs during his many hikes was a passion.
During his time in Evansville, Bob served on the board of trustees for The Evansville Day School and was a former member of the Evansville Country Club, the Evansville Downtown Quarterback Club, the Broadway Theater League, and the American Stockyards Association.
Bob and Dale moved to Columbine Valley, Colorado, in 2016.
Bob was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Emma Lee Fay Hartzell. He is survived by wife Dale; daughter Evelyn Fay Leinbach (Glen) of Fort Collins, Colorado; son Rush Fay of Littleton, Colorado; nieces Martha Fosdick, Meredith Sloan and Morgan Howell; several great-nieces and great-nephews.
There will be no services. Cremated remains will be interred in the family plot at Oak Hill Cemetery. The family would be delighted if memorial contributions in Bob's name were made to Vanderburgh Humane Society, P.O. Box 6711, Evansville, IN  47719.