Robert Dale Janssen

Robert Dale Janssen; born to Gerald & Grace Janssen in a Wellsburg, Iowa farmhouse November 16, 1930. He was the youngest of three children. His brother Carl and his sister Anna both preceded him in death.

Robert "Bob" was baptized at the 1st Christian Reform Church in Wellsburg.

Growing up in the small German farming community of Wellsburg, Bob's first language was German. On the family farm he learned how to work hard and provide for the family.

Bob graduated from Wellsburg High School; his graduating class was very small, only about seven people.

On March 31, 1951 Bob married the love of his life, Lois Elizabeth (Turner) Janssen at Olivet Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended radio school and graduated in August 1951.

Drafted into the Army on February 12, 1952, he served at Camp Gordon, Georgia for boot camp. Trained in the Signal Corp Radio Electronics program at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Was transfered to Fort Lewis, Washington and then to Fort Richardson, Alaska to work on the electronics of the P47 and B52 Aircraft. He was honorably discharged in February 1954.

Bob and Lois have five children; Laurence - Kremmling, Colorado; Richard - Aurora, Colorado; Randall - Lake Havasu, Arizona; William - Saint Cloud, Minnesota and Sheryl - Lakewood, Colorado.

His pride and joy are his four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Bob moved his family to Littleton, Colorado in June 1961. He said it took a change of altitude and change of beer to get a girl born into the family.

He worked as an Electronic Engineer for Collins Radio and Martin Marietta. He later changed careers and retired from St. Anthony Hospital in Denver, Colorado as a Building Maintenance Engineer.

Bob was fiercely patriotic and decided to serve the community and joined the Board of Directors of the Bancroft Fire Department after serving on the Civil Service Committee in 1982. He later helped merge the Lakewood and Bancroft Fire Departments into the Lakewood Bancroft Fire Authority, which later became the West Metro Fire Protection District. He retired from service in 2003; the community honored him for his years of service at Coors Field.

Bob fought and won his battle with prostate cancer In 1992. in 2002, he had an aneurysm in his brain, which was caught just in the nick of time; recovery took a very long time.

In November and December 2009 he was hospitalized with pneumonia and compression fractures in his back and pelvis. He fought to walk again but was just too weak and became bedridden in February 2010.

Bob died peacefully in his sleep with his wife Lois by his side, in the early morning of Wednesday, April 28, 2010.

Viewing will be at the Newcomer Funeral Home - West Metro Chapel on Friday, April 30, 2010 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM.

Memorial Services will be at Horizon Christian Fellowship Church, 5151 So. Federal Blvd., Littleton, Colorado on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM.

A private burial will take place at Fort Logan National Cemetery at a later date.