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L. Robert "Bob" Douglas

Born: February 26, 1927    Elkhorn, Nebraska Died: February 3, 2010      Fremont, Nebraska     Gathering of Family & Friends: Saturday, February 6, 2010 2:00-4:00 PM Svoboda Funeral Home Wahoo, Nebraska Private Inurnment at Prospect Hill Cemetery Elkhorn, Nebraska with Military Honors by Malmo American Legion Post #232 Memorials: Malmo American Legion Post #232

LaVerne Robert "Bob" Douglas was born to Maxie and Ethel (Matschuk) Douglas.  He attended Iron Bluffs School District 13 near Elkhorn through the eighth grade and in 1944 graduated from Elkhorn High School where he enjoyed playing basketball. Bob enlisted in the US Navy on April 20, 1945 and was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago for eight weeks and then on to Alameda Air Station in Oakland, CA. He served on the USS Hoggatt Bay escort carrier, which had been converted to a troop carrier. They went to Saipan to pick up troops and brought them back to San Francisco, CA and right back to Okinawa for more troops to bring back to San Francisco. They took the ship through the Panama Canal to the Boston Naval Shipyards where the ship was decommissioned. He worked there scraping, sandblasting and painting the ship for several months. He was honorably discharged on July 27, 1946 in Minneapolis, MN. Upon returning home, he worked for Ralph Zimmerman feeding cattle. He also bought a truck with which he hauled grain and livestock and made trips to Arkansas to pick up posts. He worked on the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge Gang by Elkhorn for several months, building a bridge over the Papio Creek east of Elkhorn. Bob farmed the R.W. Douglas homestead near Elkhorn and moved to Malmo in 1970 where he raised corn, soybeans, dairy, poultry and eggs, swine farrowing to finishing and feeder cattle. He worked in real estate with Taylor & Martin and Don Peterson Associates. He also was a professional painter and had painted several rooms in the Pathfinder Hotel of Fremont finishing the day before the explosion. Bob was united in marriage to Helen Kratky on March 9, 1979 in Denver, CO. Bob was a member of the American Legion Post #232 in Malmo, the Saunders County Pork Producers, the Saunders County Livestock Feeders Association and had been a dedicated Red Cross blood donor.

Bob was preceded in death by  brother in law Dick Backhus and survived by his wife Helen Douglas, daughter and son in law, Jane and Jim Heck, Lisbon, IA, sons and daughters in law, Steve and Nancy Douglas, Lincoln, NE, David and Diana Douglas, Weeping Water, NE, William "Bill" Douglas, Wahoo, NE, eight grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, sister Darlene Backhus, Omaha, NE, stepdaughters, Carol and Ken Meduna, Weston, NE, Roxane and Larry Graham, Lincoln, NE, brothers in law, Joe (Geraldine) Chmelka, Cedar Bluffs, NE, Leonard (Shirley) Chmelka, Malmo, sisters in law, Gladys (Joe) Cihal, Darlene Chmelka, all Malmo, nieces and nephews.