Robert Blankenberker

SIKESTON -- Robert Brooks Blankenbeker, 95, died at 4:10 a.m. March 12, 2012, at the Miner Nursing Center.

Born Sept. 20, 1916, in Hudsonville, Ill., to the late William H. "Pete" and Edna Lulu Wolverton Blankenbeker, he was a railcar dispatcher for the Houston Belt and Terminal and a ticket agent for Burlington-Northern Railroad. A veteran of World War II, serving with the U.S. Army Air Force, he was a member of the North Houston Masonic Lodge 296 and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 32nd Degree.

On Aug. 2, 1942, at St. Louis, he married Elizabeth Ann May who preceded him in death on Sept. 22, 1999.

He was also preceded in death by one son, Robert Brooks Blankenbeker Jr., and three sisters and two great-grandchildren.

Survivors include: one son and daughter-in-law, John Alan and Kathy Blankenbeker of Camdenton; two daughters and a son-in-law, Nancy Taylor of Blodgett and Ellen and Rich Hansen of Bryan, Texas; three brothers, William A. Blankenbeker of Douglas, Ga., Jack Blankenbeker of Robinson, Ill., and Benny Blankenbeker of Cartersville, Ga.; and seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation is scheduled from 1 p.m. until time of services at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Cashmer Funeral Chapel in Conroe, Texas. His daughter, Nancy Taylor, will officiate.

Burial with full military honors will follow in the Garden Park Cemetery in Conroe.

Obituary courtesy of the Blanchard Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.

Online condolences may be sent at blanchardfuneral.com.