Robert Myrl "Bob" Welkel

(0) CommentsMISSOULAâ�,��**– Robert Myrl "Bob" Weikel passed away Thursday, June 13, 2013, culminating a long life as son, spouse, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend. He died peacefully in the house he built, beginning in 1948.

He was born Nov. 16, 1916, in Dillon, the third of five sons. The family moved to Missoula in 1924. He graduated from Missoula County High School in 1931 and attended two years at the University of Montana.

In 1942, he was called up for induction but was rejected because he had a hernia. He then spent the time during the war doing construction work on various military bases in Idaho and Alaska.

In October 1943 while home on vacation, he met a young nursing student named Mac when she and friends were dancing at the old Shack on Front Street in Missoula. They dated for three months and were married at 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Two weeks later, Bob went to the Aleutians in Alaska for a year and Mac began her nursing career at a hospital in Vancouver, Wash.

When Bob returned from Alaska, they settled in Missoula where he began a long career juggling the duties of work with being a husband and father. Their home was always filled with the neighborhood children. He was a Little League coach and active with the Boy Scouts and PTA. He was involved in developing the baseball field at Kiwanis Park.

Bob was a carpenter most of his life and very proud of all the buildings and bridges he worked on in Missoula. He was foreman and superintendent on many schools, the Madison Street Bridge, Russell Street Bridge and Higgins Avenue Bridge as well as many of the interstate bridges both east and west of Missoula. Almost anywhere you went in Missoula, he could point out a project he had worked on.

A lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church, Bob first worked as custodian when he was in high school. In 1976, he went to work full time as the custodian. Other than taking time off to travel, he worked there until 2002.

Bob is survived by his daughter, Bobbi Weikel of Butte; son, Bill (Roxane) Weikel of Missoula; son-in-law, Rick Philips of Eagle, Idaho; grandson, Kyle (Molly) Philips of Eagle; granddaughter, Robyn (Kye) Nuttall of Missoula; grandson, Brad Weikel of Washington, D.C.; and great-grandchildren, Anderson, Elin and Annika Nuttall of Missoula.

He was preceeded in death by his parents, four brothers, his wife of 68 years (Mac) and his daughter, Linda Philips.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 22, at the First Presbyterian Church with a reception to follow.

Memorials in Bob's name may be made to the Watson Children's Shelter or the aid fund at the Presbyterian Church.

Read Robert Welkel's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.