Robert Willis Pressler

He passed away while at Gilbert Mercy Medical Center in Chandler/Gilbert, AZ from a brief bout with pneumonia.

Bob was born on January 26, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri to Willis and Mabel Pressler. As a youngster, he developed an interest in airplanes and flying. After graduating from Ruhl-Hartman High School in Kansas City, and then working at the Kansas City Power and Light Co., he joined the Army Air Corps (before it became the United States Air Force) and served during World War 2. As a bombardier gunner on a Flying Fortress with the 15th air force, Bob participated in twenty-two sorties against vital targets in Germany, Italy, and the Balkans. He was awarded the Air Medal in Italy for meritorious achievement in sustained operational activity against the enemy. Later in life, Bob became the pilot of his own small aircraft.

When Bob returned from WW2, he married his beautiful high school sweetheart, Dorothy Jean Peay. Dorothy preceded Bob in death on September 7, 1994. He lovingly took care of her for almost ten years while she was ill and before she passed away. Together Bob and Dorothy had four children who now mourn his passing: Joan C. Webb (Richard) from Chandler, AZ; Bob A Pressler from Tulsa, OK; Patty Brock (David) from Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Karen Boothe (Michael) from Kansas City, Missouri.

His grandchildren and great-grandchildren affectionately called him GGP (Great-Grandpa Pressler.) They enjoyed playing table games and eating ice cream with him and will greatly miss him: Grandchildren Lynnette (Adam) Rasmussen, Rich (Anne) Webb, Ryan (Hannah) Brock, Charlsey (Blake) Studdard, Amy (Ian) Prosser, Chris Brock, Kristen Boothe, Mariah Boothe, and great-grandchildren Annika, Kirsten, Lesia, Calissa, Max, Luke, Sam, Jacob, Lahna, Sol, Lola, Ember, and Brock.

Bob retired from the Bendix Corporation in Kansas City and then became the pastor of Holliday Baptist Church, Holliday, Kansas for several years. Throughout their married life together, Dorothy and Bob taught Sunday School and Bible Studies, especially at the First Baptist Church of Shawnee, Kansas. They also volunteered at various ministries including Kansas City Youth for Christ. During his retirement years, he joined his daughter Patty in her home renovation business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And later, he lived in Gladstone, MO with daughter Karen Boothe and then near daughter Joan Webb in Chandler, Arizona.

Bob was honored with a Brock family memorial service in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in a family memorial service at the Webb home in Chandler, Arizona. His children plan a burial service facilitated by Veteran’s Administration (VA) soldiers at Shawnee Mission Memory Gardens in Shawnee, Kansas.