Robert Ben Martenson

MARTENSON, JOHNSON, LONG, MERTENS

Posted By: Stacy Bliesener (email)
Date: 11/16/2014 at 22:48:08

Robert B. "Bob" Martenson died on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 2:10 a.m. at Great River Medical Center Hospice House in West Burlington.

Bob was born on July 25, 1920 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Arthur and Hilda Johnson Martenson.

Dorothy Elizabeth Long Martenson, "Dolly", was the love of his life and he married her on January 17, 1942. He cherished her and their life together until her death on January 8, 2004.

The center point of their lives was their family. They raised four children; Rick Martenson (Diane) of Bettendorf, Mary "Mimi" Mertens (Bill) of Burlington, Kathleen "Kitty" Martenson of Tucson, AZ, and Margaret "Moogie" Martenson-Els (Heiner) of Bonn, Germany.

There are seven grandchildren; Christine (Chuck) Soncarty of Bettendorf, David (Lori) Martenson of Naperville, IL, Kevin (Jaimi) Martenson of Topeka, KS, Matthew (Tara) Martenson of Bettendorf, Michael Mertens of Tulsa, OK, Ryan (Mollie) Mertens of Des Moines and Andrew Mertens of Iowa City; eleven great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Besides his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents, his mother and father-in-law John and Helene (O'Brien) Long, his brother Ed, sisters Janet and Margaret, his nephew Dick Mertenson, and his son-in-law Bill Mertens.

He was a Senior Inspector for the Atomic Energy Commission at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. After taking an early retirement, Bob and Dolly bought property outside of Danville and built an apple orchard. Their dream of working outdoors, side by side, each and every day was a reality that they enjoyed with family and friends until they were in their 80's when they sold their property and moved to Burlington.

Bob served in the Army during WWII and was a member of SS. John and Paul Catholic Church. He was an IAAP fire fighter and belonged to the National Fire Fighters Association almost all his life.

To sum up a life as fully lived as Bob's is an impossible task. He enjoyed life and lived it with a full, open and fair heart. He could be described as a hunter, outdoorsman, craftsman, fisherman, sportsman but those were all just things he used to make his family's life fuller. Best described, he wa a family man.