Obituary of Robert Solie

Coffee stands throughout Olympia likely experienced dramatic profit losses on Monday, July 9, 2018. Robert Solie, known by his wife and friends as “Solie” and by his family as “Bob-Bob,” drank his last breve and passed peacefully while surrounded by his family. Bob was 70 years young.

He was born and raised in Olympia, Washington to Frank and Eileen Solie, and graduated from North Thurston High School. He studied geology at the University of Puget Sound, pledged as a Theta Chi, and later went back to pursue a year of law school before completing his Master’s degree in Marketing Management. During the summers, he worked at the Olympia Brewing Company. Such a fun job for him, as his dad devoted his career to the Olympia Brewing Company and retired as the brewhouse foreman. It was there that he met the future mother of his children, and his career turned to sales, marketing, and eventually real estate. Bob seemed to be at the forefront of every technological advancement – from computers to pagers to mobile phones. He had one of the first car-mounted mobile phones in Olympia, and this convenience caught on with the other realtors around town. Before long, he was spending less time as a Realtor and more time helping the community with these new mobile phone contraptions so his business, Washington Cellular, was born. Eventually leaving real estate, he grew his cell phone business to over 1800 customers. His son eventually joined the business and they ran it together until Bob made the decision to retire in 2017, after being open for 27 years.

In 2001, Bob married Janice and they shared 17 wonderful years together – skiing, traveling, dancing, skydiving, and enjoying their lives together. Few sunrises and even fewer rainbows went unobserved and shared between these two…something ever changing and magical that Janice will continue to find joy in, knowing that Bob is somehow part of that wondrous splendor.

Bob is survived by his crazy family that he loved so much: his wife, Janice Whitney Solie; his sister, Janeen Solie McAninch (Mal, Ryan (Carlie), Megan (Kyle)); his daughter, Arel Solie (Brian Koder); his son, Dan Solie (Joelle Lloyd); Janice’s daughters, Kim Garcia (Joe) and Janine Ezzell (Robert Puthoff); and the six proudest grandchildren, Jace, Maria, Kelbe, Max, Tyler, and Ryan.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Tumwater Rotary (PO Box 4380 Tumwater, WA 98501), an organization of which Bob proudly served as President, corn dog slinger, and Sergeant-at-Arms. Also, please consider grabbing a coffee from his daily coffee stand, Madre’s on Cooper Point. And tell ‘em it’s for Bob.

We will celebrate Bob at his favorite beach, with his favorite music playing, and his favorite BBQ food, on August 4, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at the Tamoshan Beach, 62^nd Avenue NW. This event will be “bring your own lawn chair,” and Hawaiian shirts are encouraged.  Please RSVP to the Facebook event or email olymom@me.com so we know how many will be in attendance. Parking will be extremely limited, and we will be shuttling people down to the beach, so carpooling is recommended. We hope to see all of you there!