Robert “Bunky” Lillibridge, 81, Belfield, died Monday, September 19, 2016 at CHI St. Alexius, Bismarck. Bunky’s funeral service will be at 1 p.m., Friday, September 23, 2016 at Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson, with Pastor Rande Kerr and Bob Hlibichuk officiating. Interment will follow at the Medora Cemetery, Medora. Visitation will be on Thursday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will continue on Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Ladbury Funeral Service.

Bunky — Robert Roy — Lillibridge was born to Anna Larson Lillibridge and Roy Lillibridge in Belfield on December 30, 1934. He grew up on the family ranch, the Double L, near Fairfield, North Dakota. Bunky learned riding and ranch work at an early age. During the first part of the Second World War, horses were raised on the ranch. Bunky was not yet ten years old when he rode in the Badlands with his father, rounding up horses and bringing them to the home corral. Many of the horses were sold both in the United States and abroad for military purposes. Bunky, his dad, and two young neighbor boys helped trail large herds of horses to sales rings in Belfield, Killdeer and Dickinson. They would start out with their own 50 head or so and pick up horses from neighbors all the way to town, ending up with 150 head or more. With the advent of a mechanized army, the bottom fell out of the horse market so the Double L became a cattle ranch. Roy and Bunky raised Hereford cattle, developing a high quality herd by always keeping their own replacement heifers and buying excellent bulls.

Bunky’s elementary education took place in country schools, in Belfield, and in Medora, where he also attended high school, graduating in 1953. He attended two years of college in Wahpeton School of Science, studying a year of general mechanics and a year of diesel mechanics. Bunky’s father developed health problems and needed help so Bunky returned to the Double L ranch and stayed to live and work there.

Bunky met Sylvia Haas at the home of his Larson cousins when she was there visiting Carol and Evelyn for the weekend . He was quite smitten, a courtship ensued, and he and Sylvia were married in Belfield on May 14, 1960. Sylvia loved the job of being Bunky’s right hand “man”. He and Sylvia had two children, a son Jody Roy and a daughter Heidi Carol. Jody was a copy of his father; they enjoyed great times doing mechanic and ranch work together. One of the great sorrows of Bunky’s life was the death of his daughter Heidi in 1999.

Bunky was a good cowboy. He knew how to break and handle horses and he knew how to take care of cows. He loved to invent and make things. One of his creations was a boat made from three barrels cut in half, powered with an old Evinrude motor. He used the boat on the neighbor’s large stock dam and at Lake Ilo. Family members had many a terrifying ride in “Sink or Swim.” Bunky also loved old cars, his first being a 1929 Model A Ford Coupe which he bought for $25. He loved to drive cars and to tinker with and fix them. Bunky’s last, much appreciated old vehicle was a 1929 Model A Ford Roadster pickup in original condition, a gift from his son Jody.

Bunky long wanted an airplane. In 1974 he bought an old rag-wing 1948 Aeronca Champ for about a thousand dollars. His cousin Larry Larson taught him to fly. He used the Champ to check on the cows in the big summer pasture, to locate bulls, to check on waterlines and tanks, to locate neighbors’ cattle, and most importantly, for the sheer delight of flying. Bunky could not renew his flight license after his second heart surgery in 1992.

Because of health reasons, the Lillibridges had to sell the Double L in 1998 and Bunky and Sylvia moved to Fryburg in 2008, where Bunky enjoyed the view of Sentinel Butte, the Badlands, and the wide-open western sky. He spent hours at his reloading bench and in his wood shop, where he created beautiful cribbage boards, wall tiles with intricate patterns, diamond willow canes, and furniture including dictionary stands, folding tables, shelves and book cases.

Bunky was never a complainer. He accepted the steadily increasing limitations of worsening health with quiet fortitude, living with optimistic hope, both for this life and for the eternal life to come. He looked forward to meeting Jesus in Heaven and to a grand reunion with his beloved daughter and other loved ones. The joy he now experiences is greater than any he has ever known.

Bunky is survived by his wife Sylvia, his son Jody, his sister Jean, his chosen grandchildren and their families, and many loving relatives including nieces, nephews, in-laws and outlaws. He was preceded in death by his daughter Heidi, his mother and father, and two sisters, Marie and Alice.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to Gideons International or the Aviation Missionary Fellowship.