Briggs, Robert G. (1941-2009)

BRIGGS, KIESEWETTER, ANDERSON, MARTYN, PATTERSON, HUNT, PLUMMER

Posted By: C Tucker (email)
Date: 11/8/2015 at 17:07:54

The Post
Winona, MN [1-28-2009]

Briggs, Robert G., D.D.S.

Robert G. Briggs, D.D.S., 67, died at home on Sunday, January 25, 2009, after a courageous 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Bob was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on October 20, 1941, to James Gaylen Briggs and Elsie Kiesewetter Briggs. He grew up on a farm near Marshalltown, Iowa, where he graduated from high school in 1960. He attended Marshalltown Junior College before enrolling at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1965 and a Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree (DDS) in 1968. It was there that he met his wife, Susan Anderson. They were married on October 7, 1967, in Des Moines, Iowa. Bob served as a dentist in the United States Air Force in Minot, North Dakota, from 1968 to 1970 and then moved to Winona, MN where he established a private practice in dentistry. He originally had an office in the Choate Building before he rehabilitated the Anger Building which is on the National Register for Historic Places and is where he practiced dentistry until he retired in 2000. Bob had multiple skills, talents and passions and excelled at all of them. He was an avid hunter, fisherman and private pilot and he traveled worldwide for those experiences. In addition to maintaining the farm where he grew up in Iowa he managed and ran a farm in Cedar Valley which he and Susan purchased in 1978 and where he originally raised a composite cattle breed (RX3s) and later elk and hunting dogs. He was past president of the RX3 cattle association and active in the American Elk Breeders Association as well. In 2007, he was honored as an outstanding conservationist by the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts for conserving the natural resources in the Southeastern District of Minnesota. Bob was preceded in death by his father, James Gaylen Briggs, his mother, Elsie Briggs, and a brother, John Briggs. He is survived by his wife, Susan, son, Stephen (Jenel) Briggs, grandsons, Carter and Rory Briggs, all of Winona; his sisters, Gayle (Mike) Martyn, Troy, MI, Janet Briggs of Melbourne, FL, and, Debra (David) Patterson, Asheville, NC; several nieces and nephews and aunts, Ellen (Verle) Hunt, Marshalltown, IA and Frieda Plummer of Woodbury, MN. The family requests that memorials be sent to Winona Area Hospice Services, 175 E. Wabasha St., Winona, MN 55987 or to Winona County Historical Society, 160 Johnson St., Winona, MN 55987 or Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) for pancreatic cancer research, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245 or pancan.org. Memorial services for Bob will be held on Saturday, January 31, at 11:00 AM at Central United Methodist Church, Winona, Rev. David McBride officiating. Following the service members of American Legion Post #9, Winona, will conduct military burial honors outside the church. A reception will follow the service from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Saturday at the Great Hall of the Watkins Home. Friends may call on Friday, January 30, from 4-8PM at the Great Hall of the Watkins Home. Spring interment will be at Cedar Valley Cemetery, Cedar Valley, rural Winona County. Services entrusted to Fawcett-Junker Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Winona. Words of sympathy and remembrance may be left at www.fawcett-junkerfuneralhome.com