Fred Eliot Robb, oldest U.S. Marine, dies at age 108
By Ryan Slight
News-Leader staff
The Rev. Fred Eliot Robb's life touched more than 10 decades, friends and relatives recalled during his Thursday funeral.
To his two sons, the Springfield resident who died Monday at age 108 was more than a man believed to be the oldest living U.S. Marine and Presbyterian minister.
He was the U.S. Navy chaplain who remembered to send almond candies from Hawaii during World War II. He was the father who taught the finer points of baseball and basketball. He was the reverend who wedded and baptized countless people across the Midwest.
And he left memories of a Christian home that was tight on money, but filled with love.
"Mom and Dad didn't need a lot of textbooks to raise children. They had one. It sits on this pulpit," said John Robb of Chesterfield, displaying a Bible while remembering his father before a packed congregation at Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church.
Dozens later watched as military representatives fired guns and sounded Taps in Robb's honor prior to his burial at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery.
Picked by I.M. Balm.