Robert Scott McKinnon, age 84, passed away on July 7, 2022, while receiving home hospice care for esophageal cancer. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; his two children, Christopher (Arcolar) and Wendy (Dan Maxwell); three grandchildren, Maxwell (Irina) McKinnon, Clare Maxwell, and Zoe Maxwell; and his great-grandchild, Alexei McKinnon.
Bob was born in Portland, Oregon on October 27, 1937, to Angus and Vivian McKinnon. Bob attended Oakland Junior College before transferring to the University of Montana with a full-ride swimming scholarship. After college, Bob taught English for a year in Poplar, three years at Paris Gibson Junior High School in Great Falls, and 28 years at Charles M Russell High School. He retired in January 1993 to provide home care for his mother, Vivian.
Bob met his wife, Suzy Cook, at the University of Montana, while producing a winning one-act play he authored for a contest. They were inseparable for the next 62 years, supporting each other, and building meaningful relationships with thousands of people world-wide through gardening, ballroom dancing, raising tropical fish, greyhound racing, writing, and traveling. Bob and Suzy ran a summer swim school, beginning at the old Holiday Inn pool in 1968, and three years later, started teaching in a self-built backyard indoor pool. In addition to teaching swimming lessons, Bob coached the local swim team, Gus’s Guppies, as well as both high schools, to several state championships. Many of those swimmers learned how to swim at “The Guppy Country Club.”
In his teens, Bob became an aviculturist, raising parakeets in his bedroom for profit, and then using the proceeds to buy a horse. He and Sugar rode many memorable miles together on the undeveloped hills around Oakland. Bob later had hunting dogs, greyhounds, tropical fish, peacocks, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, and cats. Bob’s first published book, "Moose, Bruce, and the Goose," borrowed from his own experience of adopting a retired racing greyhound and then raising his own litters of pups for racing.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, visit the Schnider Funeral Home website.
