Bob came to Medicine Lodge from Montezuma in 1923 where he completed his
     senior year in high school. He worked as a mechanic in the Ford garage
     which was owned by his uncles - John Riisoe and John Mullikin.
       Bob was a 6'2" basketball player for Medicine Lodge, having played on a
     State Championship team in Montezuma with his brothers, Joe and Ben. After
     graduation, Bob returned to Montezuma to help his dad cut wheat, coming
     back to Medicine Lodge in the winters to work at the garage. When his brother,
     Ben, joined him the winter of 1926, they had no idea they were destined to
     marry the Woodward sisters - Ben to Edith in 1927 and Bob to Ethel in 1928.
       Bob and Ethel lived in Medicine Lodge where their first child, Roberta
     Louise, was born December 14, 1929. They moved to Montezuma in 1930 following
     the death of his brother, Joe, who was killed in an airplane crash.
       Returning to Medicine Lodge in 1931, two more children were born - James
     Dean on Christmas Day, 1931 - Russel Jean on December 9, 1933, each of the
     first three having been born in December. During the period of 1931-1934, one
     of Bob's co-workers was Lee Gardner. Both left Medicine Lodge and lost track
     of each other, little knowing that some twelve years later Bob's daughter
     would meet and marry Lee's nephew.
       In 1934, Bob moved his family to Salina where he became Service Manager for
     the Ford garage there. In 1939, they moved to Marshall, Missouri, where he
     worked for John Deere for a short time, returning to Kansas in the fall of
     1939. Finding employment in Emporia, they settled there for the next eleven
     years.
       When World War II broke out in 1941, Bob felt he had to do his part. He 
     had been too young for service in World War I and was now too old. First
     he went to Wichita to work in the aircraft factories, then once again
     returned to work for Ford Motor Company - only this time, he traveled the
     United States putting Pratt-Whitney engines in B52's. It was during this
     time he learned to fly.
       On their 15th wedding anniversary, November 28, 1943, along came the
     fourth child, Robert John, Jr. - their only child NOT born in December.
     When the war ended, Bob returned to Emporia and took up the life of Service
     Manager once again. December 16, 1948 the arrival of their fifth child,
     Joseph Vernon.
       In the summer of 1950, Bob, Ethel and the three younger boys still at
     home, moved to Dodge City where Bob was to spend the remainder of his life.
     At the age of 58, he was killed in a hunting accident in 1953.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 341