Dec 14, 2013

Served in Air Force, enjoyed family

Robert A. Gayvert, 94, retired agricultural economist and resident of Charlotte, N.C., since 2006, died December 11, 2013.

He was born in 1919 in Washington, a son of the late Carl Werner and Ester Marie Larson Gayvert. Both of his parents immigrated to this country from Sweden before their marriage and were especially proud to be citizens of their adopted country. He was the fourth of five children, four sons and a daughter.

Mr. Gayvert attended Trinity High School and Washington & Jefferson College. In 1940, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served during World War II in the Panama Canal Zone, achieving the rank of master sergeant. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Air Forces 2512th Unit in Childress, Texas, in 1945.

He received a bachelor of science in agriculture from University of Florida in Gainesville and a master of science degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

Mr. Gayvert served as a poultry marketing specialist in the cooperative extension service at University of Georgia for many years and later became a dairy marketing specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Minneapolis, Minn., where he worked until his retirement in 1983.

While living in Minnesota, he and his family enjoyed cross-country skiing and ice skating in the winter and canoeing lakes in the summer. After retiring, he and his wife returned to their home in the country just outside Athens, Ga., where he spent much of his time working outside, planting trees, shrubs and flowers. He was an avid gardener who took the greatest pleasure in creating beautiful landscapes and gardens around his homes. He especially loved roses, gladiolas, azaleas, dogwoods and lilies and was knowledgeable about a great variety of flowers and landscape plants, as well as vegetable gardening.

He was devoted to his wife of 69 years, Mary Lee Thomas Gayvert, and enjoyed his family, music, sports and keeping up with current events and politics. Family gatherings were always enlivened by discussions of these subjects and others, and by his colorful stories of growing up in the neighborhood of Goat Hill in Washington.

Surviving, in addition to his wife Mary Lee, are three daughters and a son and their families, Sigrid and Clate Sanders of Athens, Susan and Ted Coleman of Atlanta, Ga., Janet and Bruce Voelker of Charlotte and Robert Thomas and Barbara Gayvert of Fairport, N.Y.; 10 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a brother, Raymond Gayvert of Billings, Mont.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, December 20, in Wing Haven Gardens and Bird Sanctuary, Charlotte.

The staff of The Haven in Pineville showed loving care, attention and kindness to Mr. Gayvert.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Alzheimer’s Association, 3800 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte, NC 28215. T.H. Robertson Funeral and Cremation Service is serving the family. www.throbertson.com