Robert St. Clair Saxon

Robert St. Clair Saxon

Robert St. Clair Saxon, 84, of South Beach, Ore., died May 21, 2012 at his home.

He was born March 11, 1928 to Cecil Saxon and Gladys Pribe in Walla Walla, Wash.

He was raised in Glenwood (Eugene), Ore. He met Donna Bishop after she moved to Eugene from Long Beach, Calif. with her family her senior year of high school.

They were married Dec. 17, 1948 in Stevenson, Wash., along with his brother, Buddy Del Mar and Leigh, and friend Johnny Barrett and Carol, in a three-ring wedding ceremony.

He worked as a structural ironworker in the NW Ironworkers Union for the following 17 years for Hoffman Brothers Construction Co., building many bridges and mills throughout Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho.

In 1956, Bob and Donna settled in Newport with their two daughters, Sheri and Debi. While still ironworking, they purchased the Greyhound Bus Stop restaurant and attached gift shop and living quarters in Agate Beach. With Donna and their two daughters running the gift shop, Bob continued traveling during the week, working steel. After dropping Sheri off each morning for the school bus, Donna and Debi went to the beach and collected agates. When the quantity of agates became too great, Bob built tumblers to polish them and bought vending machines to sell the agates to gift shops on a route up and down the coast.

After surviving a 60-foot fall in 1958, they decided he would retire from ironworking, and they dedicated themselves to building the gift shop business. Bob saw an opportunity to begin importing seashells and selling wholesale to gift shops along the Oregon coast. This began many years of overseas travel for Bob and Donna, searching for new products and supplies. They soon built the business named Saxon’s into the largest on the West Coast, with sales nationwide and customers such as Disneyland, Sea World, The Nut Tree, Sea Lion Caves and the Lookout Gift Shop. As a testament to the dedication to their employees, they provided them and their families with trips to Mexico and Hawaii.

Bob was dedicated to the love of his life, Donna, the business he built with her, his daughters Sheri and Debi, their husbands, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Donna Saxon; parents, Cecil and Gladys Saxon; brother, Buddy Del Mar Saxon; and grandson, Nick Lightner.

His is survived by his daughters, Sheri (Bill) Lightner of Toledo, Ore. and Debi (Ben) Antonio; brothers, Cecil Saxon of Goshen, Ore., Darwin Saxon of Florence, Ore. and Donnie (Norma) Saxon of Florence; sisters, Sandy Saxon of Junction City, and Sharon Mallory of Eugene; sister-in-law Jeanette Bishop of Eugene; brother-in-law Larry (Diane) Bishop of Bellevue, Wash.; grandchildren, Cory Lake of Coos Bay, Justin Lake of Newport, Alex Lake of Sisters, Josh Lightner of Toledo, Nathan (Brook) Lightner of Toledo, Kellyn (Garrett) Goodwin of Lake Oswego, Allyse Nickles of Lake Oswego, Donna Antonio of Missouri, and Deann Antonio of Vancouver, Wash.; seven great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Bateman Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

For the complete article see the 06-13-2012 issue.

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