Bob Ekrut

On February 28, 2014 the world lost a bright shining smile when God choose to take our brother Bob (Bobby) Ekrut home to be with him after a short illness in much the same manner as his mom.

Bob Arlend Ekrut was born November 19, 1961 to Genele Kirk Ekrut and Benjamin Ernest Ekrut in East Ely, Nevada while the family resided in the small mining town of Ruth. He was the last of three children. As a child and youth, Bobby participated and excelled at many sports, including but not limited to baseball, wrestling, football and track, helping lead his teammates to many championships. After graduation, Bobby attended I.S.U. in Pocatello for a time, planning to be a coach but after student teaching one semester decided that was not for him. He returned to Buhl , met and married Nicki Palmer. They were later divorced. He worked for Rangens driving truck for a time then returned to college. Bob attended C.S.I. and then finished his studies at Boise State receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He worked for many years for Roadway Packaging Service, which was later bought out by Fedex. When his father, Ben Ekrut’s health started to decline, Bob came home to take care of him, working for a trucking company out of Jerome for a time. At the time of his death, he was working for Discovery Research Group of Utah.

Kids just adored Bobby, as was evident in many pictures of him, years ago with his nieces and nephew and in later years with his great nieces and nephews along with the grandchildren of Lori and Dennis Baxter, who called him Big Bob. The Baxter grandchildren loved it when Big Bob came to visit. Bobby made our family reunions fun for the kids as he would pick on them and they would pile on him to get even.

Bobby had a heart of gold and a smile to go with it and was well know for his bear hugs. He love deeply and because of this could be hurt deeply. He set very high standards for himself and expected everyone else to have the same standards as him so if he made a mistake it was hard for him to forgive himself or believe that anyone else would.

He is survived by his father, Ben Ekrut: his brother, Don Ekrut(Boise); his sister and brother–in-law, Lynnette and James Martinez(Paul);his nieces and nephew, Kristy Finch(Bobby) ,Kerry Zemke ,Clay Crown(Shawna): great nieces and nephews, Samantha, Essence, Jackson, Boston, Ivy and Joshua.

Bobby was preceded in death by his mom, grandparents and Nicki.

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 8, 2014 at the First Christian Church in Buhl on the corner of Broadway and Poplar with Pastor Dan Hendricks officiating.

Arrangements were entrusted to the care of Famers Funeral Chapel 130 9th Avenue North in Buhl.