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Obituary

Robert E. Goede, 93, died on September 6 at his daughter’s home in Chicago.

He was born February 16, 1927 in Burlington to Edward and Hulda Natsell Goede. He graduated from Burlington High School in 1944.

During service in the U.S. Army in World War II, he received training as a Japanese interpreter at the University of Chicago. He served in the Office of Intelligence at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

A graduate of Northwestern University in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He worked as a technical writer and supervisor of technical manuals for J.I. Case from 1964 to retirement.

He married Dorothy Louise Martensen on September 6, 1959 in Burlington; they were married 60 years before her death.

Competing on the Bowl-Inn traveling team for 25 years, he won bowling championships both locally and across the country. For ten years starting in 1955, he wrote a bowling column for the Burlington Hawk Eye called “Ten Pin Taps.” In 1958, he set the record for the highest league three-game series ever bowled in Burlington, 758, a record that held for almost 20 years. His career high score was 298.

He served on the board of directors and as president of the Burlington Area Bowling Association. He was named Burlington Area Bowler of the Year in 1975, was elected to the Burlington Area Hall of Fame the same year, and finally was elected to the Iowa Bowling Hall of Fame in 1991.

A lifelong member of Messiah Lutheran Church, his family first joined the congregation in 1868. He served as treasurer and as a member of the church council for many terms, and as secretary of the board of directors of Sunrise West for many years.

He is survived by his daughter, Nancy Goede (James Vondracek) and two grandsons, Hugh Vondracek (Jenny Sampras) and Robert Vondracek (Taylor Smith), both of Chicago. Burial will be in Aspen Grove Cemetery at a later date.