Robert Lee Wilund
Bob Wilund and Pat Pautsch had their first date on November 9, 1954, and became high school sweethearts. Bob soon started setting aside $8 per week from odd jobs he took up in high school to save up for a modest diamond engagement ring. They married on December 28, 1957.
The story of the ring has been dramatic, from its humble beginnings to a series of trial and tribulations most rings would not have survived. Thirty years after their engagement, the diamond took a few walkabouts, disappearing suddenly from its setting four times over the next thirty years. Miraculously, each time the diamond was found - once under a desk, another time on a grocery store floor, again on top of a shag carpet, then in a hotel bathroom. Each time, the diamond was reset, and Pat and Bob were assured the diamond was secure. In the end, the setting held tight.
Robert Lee Wilund passed away on April 8, 2023, after a short illness. He was 84 years old and was deliriously happily married to Pat Pautsch Wilund for over 65 years. He was born July 18, 1938, in Phillips, Wisconsin. That same day Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan landed on his historic solo flight. The Dow Jones Industrials closed that day at 140.36. The US population was 129,824,939. Bob’s father, Raymond Oswald Wilund, worked for the local newspaper, The Phillips Bee. His mother, Anne Marie Stolpe Wilund, was a housewife.
Bob earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Iowa State University in 1962, after Pat worked to put him through school. He practiced for 40 years. Starting with a firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Bob moved his family to Atlanta, Georgia in 1967 where he designed Treasure Island stores, a discount department store chain that was part of J.C. Penney. Moving to the firm Stevens & Wilkinson, he designed the Interstate North Office Park, J.C. Penney office tower at 715 Peachtree, Gambrell Hall at Emory University School of Law, Tower Place in Buckhead, and eventually became project manager for the new Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.
In 1976, the Wilund family moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where Bob’s design work included the new airport terminal, the Guinness Hall of World Records, detention centers across the country, and water slide parks around the world. In 1992, Bob and Pat moved to Raleigh where Bob worked on airport projects across North Carolina. In 2005, the couple retired to Sun City in Bluffton, South Carolina, where they relished in an active community.
Bob Wilund enjoyed sports, cribbage, card games, bad dad puns, astronomy, and, most especially, his family. He is survived by his wife, Pat Pautsch Wilund; his sister Mary Ann Wilund Hamshire (Dave); three children, Larry Wilund (Jean), Laura Wilund Adams (Andrew Feiler), Kenny Wilund (Karen); five grandchildren, Bobby Wilund (Kaitlyn), Brittany Wilund, Carolyn Wilund, Jake Wilund, and Candace Wilund; and two great-grandchildren, Ophelia Wilund and Samuel Wilund. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes contributions to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research (www.mskcc.org) or Hospice Care of the Low Country (www.hospicecarelc.org).
Bob Wilund’s final wishes were that his body be cremated and his ashes spread in a beloved corner of the North Carolina mountains where he hopes his wife will one day join him. He recently gave his daughter a marker to commemorate his life, a plastic faux stone inscribed with a Sharpie. The family intends to engrave his resting thoughts on an actual stone:
In the Mood for Love, Bob & Pat Wilund, Married 12-28-1957, Together Forever.
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