Bobby Ray Marcum

“I am Appalachia. In my veins runs fierce mountain pride; the hill-fed streams of passion; and, stranger, you don’t know me!”
Bobby Ray Marcum left his earthly home on February 28, 2019 at Swedish Medical Center in Denver, CO.
“Bob” was born on February 25, 1934 in the very small coal mining town of Wallins Creek, Kentucky to James and Salome (Sergeant) Marcum. He grew up in nearby Norton, Virginia on the eastern slopes of Black Mountain. Bob was a true son of Appalachia as there ever was: he started life poor in material possessions but ended it rich in the experiences that define a life well lived.
During his school years one of his first jobs was as a soda jerk at Norton Pharmacy where he learned many tricks of the trade. He also served as the small town’s life guard which gave him the opportunity to develop his memorable story telling skills. After graduating from Norton High School, he worked briefly in the coal mines of Virginia and a box-making factory in Chicago. During this time, he met an Air Force recruiter and was soon on his way to Sampson AFB, New York for basic training. His first assignment was to F.E. Warren AFB for technical training. While there, Bob met and married the love of his life, his forever best friend, Mary Lou (Heinbigner).
Three sons were born from this union. David arrived first at the temporary wooden dorms behind the old Warren AFB hospital. Kenneth was born not too long after in a French military camp hospital which served the U.S. Army at the time. A few years later Danny was in such a hurry to join the family he arrived prematurely at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora, CO.
During Bob’s twenty plus year military career as a electronics equipment technician, he was assigned to Air Force bases in Wyoming, France, Colorado, Germany, Maryland, Thailand, Ohio, and Hawaii. He worked jobs as varied as shimmying up poles to install telephone lines, maintaining equipment on President Johnson’s Air Force One and at NATO’s underground Air Combat Operations Center at Kindsbach Cave, Germany, laying sensors along the Ho Chi Minh Trail as part of Project Igloo White, restoring telecommunications services in the aftermath of Category 5 Hurricane Camille, and teaching English to some of the young people of Thailand. He was the Air Force Communications Service NCO of the Year and retired from the military as a Senior Master Sergeant.
Soon, working for Burroughs Corporation and with an Associate’s degree in hand from LCCC, Bob started a second career as a computer programmer. For the next 26 years of his life he worked in both the private and public sectors, and also taught college-level programming courses. As a well-respected programmer giving numerous presentations at many conferences attended by PhDs clamoring for his expertise, he retired a second time in 1999 as senior programmer for the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bob was an inveterate tinkerer, avid volksmarcher (completing 6-mile walks with Mary Lou in all 50 states), and was a well-trained fan of three athletic loving sons and UW sports. He was an active member of the Democratic Party in Wyoming for many years, took part in his church and community organizations, and hiked Medicine Bow Peak numerous times. He also continued his worldly travels cruising to Alaska and through the Panama Canal, walking the Venezuelan rainforest to witness the breathtaking views of Angel Falls, and driving to Alaska to cross beyond the Arctic Circle.
The sum of his life’s experiences, forged by the hardships of the Great Depression and the tragedies of wars, both hot and cold, melded Bob into a gentle, kind and loving soul who desired to respect, to
love, and to cherish everyone he encountered, always willing to lend a helping hand or to share a humorous story.
Bob is survived by Mary Lou, his wife of 64 years; sister Vivian Moll; sons David (Elizabeth) of Cheyenne and Dan (Maira) of Caracas, Venezuela; his three grandchildren Christopher, Ryan, and Kaitlyn; sisters-in-law Barb Turk and Donna Martin; numerous nieces and nephews; long-time family friends George Hashbarger, Jr. and Jeannie Arbogast; and his loyal and loving pets Gunther, Katy, and Fuego.
He was preceded in death by his son, Kenneth; parents and parents-in-law Dan and Freda Heinbigner; sister Inez Howell; brothers Eugene and Tommy; three nephews and one niece; and numerous special pet friends over the years.
Bob has been cremated and his ashes will be interred at Memorial Gardens in Laramie County, Wyoming and Wise County, Virginia. A memorial celebration of Bob’s life will be held this summer to bring family and friends together to celebrate his life.
Bob’s family would like to express their sincere gratitude for the loving care he received at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (Acute Rehab Unit), Life Care Center of Cheyenne, and the Lutheran Hospice Unit at Swedish Medical Center.
Donations to the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank in Denver or to any of the area “no kill” animal shelters are welcomed and appreciated.