Youth Dynamics

In Memory of Bob Bavis

Robert Ray Bavis
3/6/1957 to 10/23/2009

Bob was born in Maryland to Anita and Robert Bavis. He grew up in Orange County, CA where he climbed his first mountain, San Gorgonio, at the tender age of nine. This early childhood event sparked a lifelong adventure with mountaineering.

Bob was passionate about higher education and earned degrees in zoology and a Bachelor's degree of Psychology from the University of Washington. He later attended Fuller Seminary where he earned a Master's degree in Theology.

Bob worked in the Science Department of the University of Washington for a few years, but his love of wilderness and youth ministry compelled him into a 25-year career with YD Adventures (formerly Reachout Expeditions). Bob worked in multiple capacities at YD from Rock Climbing and Mountaineering Instructor to Regional Director and Vice President. Bob also developed an adventure-based learning program that he taught at Seattle Pacific University for several years. In more recent years, Bob worked as an independent consultant designing online educational programs.

Bob was a deeply faith-filled man who learned to live with brain cancer the last 11 years of his life. He chronicled his experience in a book entitled "Dancing on the Edge." Bob reached out to many others who were diagnosed with brain cancer, sharing a message of hope, faith and compassion.

Bob was celebrated at a homecoming memorial on November 6th at Youth Dynamics in Burlington, WA. Memorial contributions can be made to Youth Dynamics online.

To read testimonies and stories of Bob, you can join the Facebook group in his memory here.