Robert A. Klee found eternal peace Friday, March 22, 2002 after a long illness. He was born December 27, 1919 in Chicago, 111. When he was eight, his family moved to Riverside, 111. where he attended Riverside-Brookfield High School, Lyons Township Junior College, and studied agronomy at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In 1942 he was employed by General Scientific Corp. Optics (where he later met his wife). In 1945 he became a draftsman for the Electromotive Div. of GM in LaGrange, 111., and on August 3, 1946 he married Betty Saraga. They lived in Riverside until 1951 when they moved to Betty’s former hometown of Riceville, Iowa, where they had purchased an 80-acre farm. They worked the farm and Bob also commuted to the Engineering Department of the Oliver Tractor Corp. in Charles City, Iowa, and it was in Riceville that their two sons were born.

In 1961, the family moved to Green Bay, where Bob worked for Northwest Engineering Company until 1980, and during the time he attended NWTC and received a design engineering degree. In 1981 he was employed as a senior design engineer at Schreiber Foods until his retirement in 1985. He then volunteered at Heritage Hill as a blacksmith and also as one of the “Golden Boys”, four retirees who did maintenance work at the Hill during the off season. He always spoke warmly of the school children who came in to watch him blacksmith.

In 1995 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Betty cared for him in their home until Sept, of 2000 when he moved to Encore Villa, later known as Harbor House.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Edith and Grover Klee, an infant brother Edwin, and sister Helen.

He is survived by his wife Betty, son Larry of Green Bay, son Gordon of Plantation, Flor., along with his wife Sandra and beloved grandsons, Robert 10 and James 3.

Bob will be cremated by Lyndahl Funeral Home and memorial services will be held at Faith Lutheran Church, 2335 So. Webster Avenue, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 6, followed by a luncheon at the Rock Garden. At a later date, services will be held in Riceville, Iowa and his ashes will be scattered on their former farm per Bob’s wishes.

Source: Riceville Recorder; Apr. 4, 2002 Page 9
from Elma library collection assembled by Marian (Marr) McGee
Transcribed by ABBYY FineReader® 12, Adapted to the Web by Bill Waters