Robert Telfer Jr.

PRINCETON — Robert Stockdale Telfer Jr. was born July 12, 1934, in Nashua, N.H., to R.S. Telfer Sr. and Sophie Wolcott Stuart Telfer. He was raised on a small farm in Bloomington, Ind., and always loved rural life.

He completed high school at Culver Military Academy, then studied at Purdue University and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, where he participated in R.O.T.C. He served two years as an active-duty infantry officer in the U.S. Army and became an Airborne Ranger in 1958. He was promoted to first lieutenant and taught winter warfare at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs and later served at Camp Hale.

While a soldier, Bob fell down a cliff climbing at Garden of the Gods and was only saved by his parachute emergency-fall training. He later met the attractive young Kathryn Burcky, a senior at Colorado College, whom he married on Sept. 20, 1959. They had two boys and a girl together.

He worked in sales as a territory manager for John Deere from 1960 to 1971, then branched off to become a real estate broker with Bob Bird in Princeton. He served the Princeton community with integrity and conscientious attention.

Over the years, Bob managed to purchase two farms and various rental properties, eventually realizing his dream of becoming a farmer himself (he quipped that he was “farming himself into poverty”). Life on the farm took up most of his energy in his retirement years, though he always seemed to have time for service projects around town. Along the way, he served as president of the Spring Valley Lions Club, the Princeton Chamber of Commerce and the Bureau Valley Country Club. Bob and Kay were the 1979 Homestead Festival chairmen and were given the lifetime achievement award in 1997 of serving as grand marshals of the Princeton Homestead Festival parade.

He was a faithful member of the Evangelical Covenant Church and an avid student of the Bible in his later years. Well-loved by his earthly family and after a long struggle with the consequences of diabetes, his spirit passed into the presence of his Savior on Wednesday, June 5, 2019.

Robert Telfer is survived by Kay, his wife of nearly 60 years; a son, Charles of Escondido, Calif. (his wife, Rhonda, and children, Victoria, John, Samuel and Anna); a son, Michael of Charlotte, N.C. (his wife, Meg, and children Noah and Joshua); and a daughter, Elizabeth of Moline (her husband, Steve Peterson, and children, Rachel, Abigail and Robert).

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 2, at the Grant-Johnson Funeral Home in Princeton. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 3, at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Princeton. Burial will be at Evergreen Memorial Gardens in Kewanee.

Online condolences may be left at www.grant-johnsonfh.com.