News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Robert Muir Graves in his element. photo provided
Robert Muir Graves was internationally renowned for his golf course designs. The famed golf course architect died at age 72 last week of complications of cancer.
His legacy will live on in courses across the United States -- and particularly here in Sisters at Big Meadow Golf Course at Black Butte Ranch.
Yet for all his renown in the world of golf, Graves was known to his Sisters area neighbors also as an active volunteer with the Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District, a patron of the music and golf programs in the Sisters School District and as a good friend and neighbor.
Graves and his wife Mimi moved to the Sisters area in 1991, the fulfillment of a dream they had shared since the early 1970s when Graves designed the Big Meadow Golf Course.
Mimi had actually discovered the area and Black Butte Ranch first, on a trip through the region in the late 1960s. She had stopped on the highway, struck by the beauty of Black Butte Ranch, which was then a working ranch.
She came home raving about the unbelievable beauty of the spot, never knowing what a large role the Ranch would play in her life and her husband's career.
"He came home one night and said, 'Guess where we have a project. Black Butte Ranch,'" Mimi recalled.
Her initial reaction was dismay.
"I said, 'Oh, no!'" she said, envisioning her beloved forests and meadows carved up into a subdivision.
Of course, things turned out much better than that. The design of the Ranch and of its Big Meadow Golf Course was sensitive to the landscape and wildlife-friendly.
"There's no place like (Black Butte Ranch)," Mimi said. "It's the best."
Working with the landscape instead of dominating it was a hallmark of Grave's design work. He loved the natural feel of classic golf courses, harkening back to the game's evolution in Scotland, where sheep slept in bunkers.
Over the decades, Graves built a distinguished career designing golf courses, teaching design and writing two acclaimed books on the subject (see obituary notice, page 23).
Yet he shunned the limelight and never lost an affinity for working with everyday folks. In fact, according to Mimi, Graves was quite proud of some of his municipal golf courses because he wanted to provide a great experience for regular golfers who wanted to shoot an economical round of golf.
The architect considered golf as a game that builds character and that was reflected in his designs.
"You always hear people say, 'I don't like that hole because I can't use my driver,'" Mimi said. "They got no sympathy from him."
Graves designed several courses in Central Oregon besides "his baby" at Big Meadow. He designed Widgi Creek, River's Edge and The Greens At Redmond.
Graves' career kept him busy through the decades of the 1970s and '80s and the idea of moving to Sisters remained a dream. The family kept a condominium at Black Butte Ranch and visited the area regularly, especially during winter. Graves had become an expert skier and enjoyed the slopes in Central Oregon.
Finally, after taking on a partner, Graves was able to move from the San Francisco Bay Area and he and Mimi settled on a ranch east of Sisters. Daughter Katy Yoder and her husband Gary joined them in the move to Sisters.
Graves did not retire, however. In fact, he kept working right up until his illness overtook him.
Mimi noted that he severely broke his leg during the time he was designing The Greens At Redmond -- yet he was out on the course on crutches, still working.
Graves also became a member of the Cloverdale RFPD volunteer cadre.
"That was a really big part of his life," Mimi said. "He always wanted to do that, all his life."
He had become intrigued with firefighting during a high school summer spent working in a firehouse. With the move to Sisters, he decided to pursue that interest as a means of community service. Mimi said he greatly enjoyed the company of the volunteers he worked with and he continued to pitch in wherever he could even after he was no longer able to withstand the physical rigors of firefighting.
Graves was also a pilot. He flew for his business, but it didn't require a particular mission to get him up in the air.
"He didn't care if he was going anywhere or not, he just wanted to be up there flying," Mimi said.
Graves put in an air strip at his ranch and bought and completely restored an old Stearman crop duster.
He and Mimi celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last January and Mimi noted that he was a "great father."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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