Robert (Bob) Curtis Gay was born August 27, 1929 to William Henry and Lillie May (Heagy) Gay. He slept away during the night of July 1, 2015.
Bob is survived by his life partner of forty-seven years, Myron Grant Campbell, Loretta Gay Weirauch, sister and W.W. Gay (Eloise), brother. Bob was pre-deceased by his sister, Thelma Gay Boree in 2014.
Children of Bob s brother and sisters create a host of surviving nieces and nephews with children, grand children and great grand children. Friends from near as well as many foreign lands consider him part of their extended families for he knew no strangers and was loved by all whose lives he touched.
Following high school at Robert E. Lee in Jacksonville, Florida, Bob graduated from Davidson College followed by completion of a Masters Degree in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He represented the seminary as an exchange student to Montpellier, France and became an ordained Presbyterian minister to serve as pastor in the Glenville Presbyterian Church in West Virginia.
After earning a Master of Social Work degree from West Virginia University, Bob was the Assistant Director for the Community Council of Kanawha Valley in Charleston, West Virginia.
An insatiable desire for community service led to social work as the Executive Director of Bucks County Opportunity Council in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, consulting work in New Hope and Executive Director of the Council of Voluntary Child Care Agencies in Philadelphia.
In 1979, Bob designed, developed, secured funding and founded the Community Occupational Readiness and Placement Program, Inc. (CORPP, Inc.) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program serves young people as well as needy and homeless adults with employability skills and support services to enable them to become independent and productive members of society.
After ten years as Executive Director of CORPP, Inc., Bob became the Program Director of Constructive Alternatives for the Greater Philadelphia Urban Coalition. Again his program sought to serve at risk populations in an effort to help people become self-sufficient and gain self respect.
In 1999, Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson s Disease. Although the challenges were great, his love of life and family and friends served him well during a long battle with the ever present difficulties of the disease.
Bob Gay touch many lives with his huge heart and love for all mankind. In one of Bob s favorite books, the fox tells The Little Prince , It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Bob could see those essentials in many of us.
In keeping with his wishes, there will be a family celebration at a later date.
Those who wish to memorialize Bob, can do so by gifts to: Parkinson s Disease Foundation, www.pdf.org.