CRESTVIEW — Long-time educator, community leader, military supporter and sports announcer Bob Lynn died Saturday evening.
A devoted husband to his wife, Betty, Lynn had just purchased take-out Chinese food for their Saturday night supper when he suddenly died.
Restaurant owners noticed his car hadn’t moved from the parking lot, and went to investigate, Crestview Mayor David Cadle said.
“He went very suddenly,” Cadle said. “It was a shock when we got the call.”
‘THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME’
Cadle lauded Lynn for his decades of devotion to the community.
“There was no one who loved this city more than Bob Lynn did,” Cadle said. “So many of the things he’s done, folks are just not aware of them, because he did them behind the scenes.”
Lynn died amid doing what he loved most: ensuring Crestview area military members received recognition for their service.
His most recent project was an effort involving area civic, military and congressional leaders to name the 77th Special Forces Way overpass over State Road 85 for Brig. Gen. Mark Stogsdill, who died July 19.
“What touched my heart was when Gen. Stogsdill passed, he said he’d see him on the other side,” Cadle’s executive assistant, Zee Richardson, said. “They were two peas in a pod. They were so close, and that they passed so close to each other was heartbreaking.”
“Losing Bob and Mark Stogsdill in a couple days of each other has been a blow to us,” Cadle said. “Things will never be the same.”
‘ALL THAT WAS VOLUNTEER’
Bob, Betty Lynn and their children were long-time members of First Baptist Church in Crestview.
Lynn, who arrived at Crestview High School as an assistant football coach in 1958, was well known to thousands of Bulldog fans. He was the football games’ play-by-play announcer, his role for 55 years, retiring in 2013.
“Not only did he announce the high school games, he did the JV and the freshmen, and the middle schools, and all that was volunteer,” Cadle said. “He loved that. He loved every minute of it.
“In my 28 years (as band director) at Crestview High School, his was the only voice we were used to announcing the band.”
“The press box, as it were, was a 4-foot by 8-foot piece of plywood on two used telephone poles,” Lynn said during a November 2013 News Bulletin interview. “When the wind would blow, the poles would move. I enjoyed having the best seat in the house.”
Lynn also taught briefly at then-Southside Elementary School and then-Richbourg Junior High School.
After retiring from the high school press box, Lynn continued as the Okaloosa and Walton Counties All-Sports Association’s sports information director. In addition, he was a member of Crestview High’s Bulldog Sports Hall of Fame.
Children — and children at heart — knew him as Santa Claus, waving from the float that concluded the Main Street Crestview Association Christmas parade every year.
In addition, Lynn was a driving force behind the Okaloosa County Veterans Memorial at Main Street and Courthouse Terrace, and was instrumental in fundraising for Fisher House of the Emerald Coast at Eglin Air Force Base.
‘HE LOVED TRADITION’
One of Lynn’s proudest achievements was establishing the Military Appreciation and Recognition Celebration, an annual Armed Forces Day picnic, car show and fair for local military members, friends and family.
“Let’s show everybody how much we support our military,” Lynn said in May, encouraging what became the biggest turnout since he started the event.
“He loved tradition, he loved ceremony, and he loved things being done correctly and on a large scale,” Cadle said. “There was no fooling around with Bob.”
Cadle said Lynn’s death is “a loss for our city but we’re just thankful we had him as a friend.”
Funeral arrangements had not been made as of this writing, but Cadle said the Lynn family is considering holding the service Thursday.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Friends remember Crestview leader, military supporter
