Robert L. Anderson

Robert L. Anderson, 81, of Bettendorf, formerly of Burlington, passed away on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at UnityPoint Health-Trinity, Bettendorf. Services for Mr. Anderson will be 11 am, Monday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport. Visitation will be Sunday from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island. Burial will be in Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials may be made to St Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport or to the University of Iowa Holden Cancer Center, Iowa City.

He was a 1958 graduate of Burlington High School and attended Southeastern Community College.

He married Kathleen(Daily)Anderson on July 31, 1960 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Burlington,

He was a member of the Burlington Police Dept. from 1962 to 1968.

He worked at The Iowa Army Ammunition Plant from 1968 to 1973.

He retired from GE in Burlington after thirty years running the Materials and Processing Laboratory, Burlington. While working at GE in 1997 he took a night class called "Man and the Environment" where he was to write a short letter to a government official in regards to an environmental concern. The letter was sent to US Senator Tom Harkin in 1997. This letter wrote of an environmental dangerous problem

while working around Nuclear Weapons materials at the former (BAECP)plant that has appeared since he left the IAAP. Interviews and news reports from the discovery of the letter to the Senator eventually resulted in a law being passed in the Senate and House benefitting radiological sickened workers and their families in the cold war industries of America. This project took from 1997 until the bill passed in 2005.

Even today this issue seems to have a life of its own. Thanks to this letter written from a class assignment he has helped many people nationwide making Bob very happy he helped so many who were made ill from these nuclear weapons himself from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

He was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, past member of Messiah Lutheran Church in Burlington where he served at President of the Church Council for two years and served 13 years total on the Council. He and his wife Kathleen were Sunday School Superintendents for two years. He was on the Board of the Shining Trail Council of Girl Scouts. He was the Treasurer of Cedar Tree Village Homeowners Association in 2006 to 2021 and remained a regular board member to present. Past Treasurer of Sunrise West in Burlington Iowa from the beginning of the project till moving out of town in late 2003.

He was a member of the Iowa National Guard from 1962 to 1968 and the United States Army Reserve from 1982 to 1989, honorably discharged twice with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

His hobby of photography has been a lifetime experience since grade school. Add a love of working with computers and electronics plus an avid reader of fiction, several books a week. In earlier years he also enjoyed playing golf and building projects around his homes.

He is survived by his wife Kathleen; daughters, Patricia(Jeff) Hasselmann, Ankeny, Iowa and Cindy (Paul) Dobroski, Port Byron, Illinois;  grandchildren, Morgan Dobroski, Bangkok Thailand, Hannah Dobroski and Michael Dobroski, Iowa City, Charles Hasselmann, Des Moines; a brother, Kent (Barbara) Anderson of Roseburg, Oregon; plus several nieces and nephews.

Bob's life showed: Service, sacrifice, love.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robert L. Anderson, please visit our floral store.