Robert “Bob” McDougall
1924-2012
Robert “Bob” McDougall was a lifelong resident of Chelan County. He was born and raised in Cashmere and graduated from Cashmere High School in 1942. Throughout his lifetime he served a variety of roles to better his country, community and industry.
Bob enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately following graduation from high school. He was a radio instructor and then served as a radioman onboard the U.S.S. Phantom performing mine sweeping operations in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Bob was discharged in 1946, with the rank of Radioman First Class.
After his time in the U.S. Navy, Bob returned to the Wenatchee Valley, where he met and married Jacquelyn Horan in 1947 and then continued his education at Wenatchee Valley College, graduating in 1949. He earned his BA in English from Washington State University two years later.
Bob began a 60-year career in the fruit industry in 1951. He went to work for Horan Brothers Inc. in the orchards and warehouse in Sunnyslope, first as a foreman, then as a manager and, in 1954, as a stockholder. In 1960, Bob formed McDougall Orchards Inc. and in 1977, joined with his sons, Stuart and Scott, to form McDougall and Sons Inc., where he served as its president until his retirement in 1998. In 1989, Bob was one of the four founding partners of Columbia Marketing International (CMI).
In 1960, Bob was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives, where he served for eight years, with his final term as the Assistant Majority Leader. In 1968, he was elected to the Washington State Senate for a four-year term, holding the position as Minority Whip. Following his 12 years in the state legislature, he was elected as a commissioner to the Chelan County PUD in 1972. During his ten-year tenure as a PUD commissioner, he was on the original three-man board that implemented the Exhibit R Program, which brought a host of new parks and trails along the Columbia River.
Bob was active in the community and in agricultural affairs throughout his life. He served as director of the Sunnyslope School Board. He was a member of the Washington State Fruit Commission and served many years on the Washington-Oregon Pear Canning Association. Bob also served on the boards of the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society and the Lake Chelan City Sewer Board.
Bob was survived by his three sons from his marriage to Jacquelyn, Douglas, Stuart and Scott, his wife Doris Anderson McDougall, and three step-children.