Robert W. Smith Sr. 1919-20061

SMITH, LAUNSPACH, KOERPERICK, BOWERS, MCDONALD, MCDERMOTT, GLEASON, SCHILLING, BUTLETT, BEECHER, MUNTZ, GOETZINGER

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 10/10/2015 at 22:53:51

Robert W. Smith Sr., 86, of 1140 Victoria St., died Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2006, at Bethany Home

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the chapel adjacent to the Hoffmann Schneider and Kitchen Funeral Home, 3860 Asbury Road, with the Rev. Edward Sheppley officiating, followed by a Masonic memorial service accorded by The Metropolitan Lodge 49. Burial will be in the Asbury Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Mr. Smith worked as a supervisor at John Deere Dubuque Works for 32 years.

He was born on Aug. 19, 1919, in Dubuque, son of August and Freda (Launspach) Smith. He married Lorrayne A. Marty Koerperick on Oct. 2, 1967, at Grandview Methodist Church, Dubuque.

He was a member of the Dubuque Metropolitan Lodge 49 of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a former member of the Clinton Scottish Rite Bodies of Masonry, a Knight Templar of Dubuque Siloan Commandry 3 of the Grand Commandry of Knights Templar of Iowa. He also was a member of the Dubuque High Twelve Club 119, The Dubuque Conservation Society, The Dubuque Historical Society, the John Deere Supervisors Club, Pheasants Forever, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was a longtime member of the Republican Party.

He served with the Asbury Fire Department for many years. He also was on the board of the Asbury Methodist Cemetery Association. He formed the Paradise Valley Shooters Club. He was a certified instructor for the Department of Civilian Marksmanship and taught hunter safety courses to young people.

He was an avid gun and sword collector.

He was a skilled amateur photographer, a master welder and had many other interests. He enjoyed the outdoors and could well be considered a lifetime steward of the land.

Surviving are his wife, Lorrayne Smith, of Dubuque; six children, Diane Smith Bowers, Gloria (Ray "Sonny") McDonald, Robert (Janice) Smith and Richard Jr. (Maureen) Smith, all of Dubuque, Linda McDermott, of Big Lake, Minn., and Major David (Maura) Smith, of Fort Jackson, S.C.; stepchildren, Diane (Terry) Gleason, of Stafford, Va., David (Jill) Koerperick, of Elgin, Ill., Richard (Mary) Koerperick, of Dubuque, and Joanne (Timothy) Schilling, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; 19 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, nine stepgrandchildren and four stepgreat-grandchildren; two sisters, Ethel Butlett and Ruth "Peach" Beecher, both of Dubuque; a brother, Lyle (Marge) Smith, of Dubuque; and his former wife and mother of his children, Irene Muntz Goetzinger, of Dubuque.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Fern Smith; a brother, Ira "Tony" Smith; a sister-in-law, Enid Smith; grandchildren, Gregory McDonald and Raymond McDonald III; and a great-grandchild, Brent McDonald.

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Tuesday, January 17, 2006