thedrifter
04-01-05, 11:39 AM
A century of love and service
Fred Eliot Robb, oldest U.S. Marine, dies at age 108
By Ryan Slight
News-Leader staff
The Rev. Fred Eliot Robb's life touched more than 10 decades, friends and relatives recalled during his Thursday funeral.
To his two sons, the Springfield resident who died Monday at age 108 was more than a man believed to be the oldest living U.S. Marine and Presbyterian minister.
He was the U.S. Navy chaplain who remembered to send almond candies from Hawaii during World War II. He was the father who taught the finer points of baseball and basketball. He was the reverend who wedded and baptized countless people across the Midwest.
And he left memories of a Christian home that was tight on money, but filled with love.
"Mom and Dad didn't need a lot of textbooks to raise children. They had one. It sits on this pulpit," said John Robb of Chesterfield, displaying a Bible while remembering his father before a packed congregation at Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church.
Dozens later watched as military representatives fired guns and sounded Taps in Robb's honor prior to his burial at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery.
The Newton County native was born on Oct. 16, 1896, in a pre-car America with 44 states governed by President William McKinley, said the Rev. Gregory Esselman of Woodland Heights.
Four years after graduating high school in Sarcoxie, Robb was encouraged by a friend to enlist in the U.S. Marines. He served in Paris Island, S.C., and Quantico, Va., during World War I; a bout of flu kept him from fighting in Europe.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 100 World War I veterans were still living as of November.
The Missouri Valley College alumni graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh in 1926. Robb was pastor of seven churches during a four-decade ministry, including Woodland Heights in Springfield from 1934 to July 1943.
"He served here longer than at any other church he served," Esselman said.
Robb enlisted in the U.S. Navy and sailed on the USS Panamint into the Pacific, where he remained until World War II ended.
"The only combat we had was a couple of submarines tried to sink us," Robb was quoted as saying in a 2000 News-Leader article. "But we zigzagged and got away from them."
While stationed at Pearl Harbor, Robb asked an admiral for permission to construct a large chapel to replace the base's tiny one, Esselman said. The chaplain was given two carpenters and several men for the task, he said.
When the completed facility attracted hundreds of attendees, "the admiral presented Chaplain Robb with the key to the chapel," Esselman said.
Robb returned to pastoring after the war and retired from the United Presbyterian Church at Mediapolis, Iowa, in 1964. He had nine grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
The minister outlived his first three wives. He was married for 42 years to Josephine Patton, for two decades to Mary Meikrantz and for nine years to Wilma Thompson.
In 1999, a 102-year-old Robb married Fern Claxton, who sang in the Woodland Heights choir as a teenager when he pastored there.
"Fred once said to me ... 'I hope God gives me at least five years to be married to Fern,'" Esselman said. "God gave him that and then some."
http://www.news-leader.com/today/20050401-Acenturyoflovea_3.jpg
Fred Robb, thought to be the oldest U.S. Marine, died Monday at age 108.
Ellie
My Deepest Sympathy and Condolences for the Family and Friends....
Rest in Peace
When we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, We are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly;
And when the time is right, we can let go of it and we will be free of pain, free of fears and worries, free as a very beautiful butterfly returning home to God.
God Bless
Ellie
Fred Eliot Robb, oldest U.S. Marine, dies at age 108
By Ryan Slight
News-Leader staff
The Rev. Fred Eliot Robb's life touched more than 10 decades, friends and relatives recalled during his Thursday funeral.
To his two sons, the Springfield resident who died Monday at age 108 was more than a man believed to be the oldest living U.S. Marine and Presbyterian minister.
He was the U.S. Navy chaplain who remembered to send almond candies from Hawaii during World War II. He was the father who taught the finer points of baseball and basketball. He was the reverend who wedded and baptized countless people across the Midwest.
And he left memories of a Christian home that was tight on money, but filled with love.
"Mom and Dad didn't need a lot of textbooks to raise children. They had one. It sits on this pulpit," said John Robb of Chesterfield, displaying a Bible while remembering his father before a packed congregation at Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church.
Dozens later watched as military representatives fired guns and sounded Taps in Robb's honor prior to his burial at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery.
The Newton County native was born on Oct. 16, 1896, in a pre-car America with 44 states governed by President William McKinley, said the Rev. Gregory Esselman of Woodland Heights.
Four years after graduating high school in Sarcoxie, Robb was encouraged by a friend to enlist in the U.S. Marines. He served in Paris Island, S.C., and Quantico, Va., during World War I; a bout of flu kept him from fighting in Europe.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 100 World War I veterans were still living as of November.
The Missouri Valley College alumni graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh in 1926. Robb was pastor of seven churches during a four-decade ministry, including Woodland Heights in Springfield from 1934 to July 1943.
"He served here longer than at any other church he served," Esselman said.
Robb enlisted in the U.S. Navy and sailed on the USS Panamint into the Pacific, where he remained until World War II ended.
"The only combat we had was a couple of submarines tried to sink us," Robb was quoted as saying in a 2000 News-Leader article. "But we zigzagged and got away from them."
While stationed at Pearl Harbor, Robb asked an admiral for permission to construct a large chapel to replace the base's tiny one, Esselman said. The chaplain was given two carpenters and several men for the task, he said.
When the completed facility attracted hundreds of attendees, "the admiral presented Chaplain Robb with the key to the chapel," Esselman said.
Robb returned to pastoring after the war and retired from the United Presbyterian Church at Mediapolis, Iowa, in 1964. He had nine grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
The minister outlived his first three wives. He was married for 42 years to Josephine Patton, for two decades to Mary Meikrantz and for nine years to Wilma Thompson.
In 1999, a 102-year-old Robb married Fern Claxton, who sang in the Woodland Heights choir as a teenager when he pastored there.
"Fred once said to me ... 'I hope God gives me at least five years to be married to Fern,'" Esselman said. "God gave him that and then some."
http://www.news-leader.com/today/20050401-Acenturyoflovea_3.jpg
Fred Robb, thought to be the oldest U.S. Marine, died Monday at age 108.
Ellie
My Deepest Sympathy and Condolences for the Family and Friends....
Rest in Peace
When we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, We are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly;
And when the time is right, we can let go of it and we will be free of pain, free of fears and worries, free as a very beautiful butterfly returning home to God.
God Bless
Ellie