Pool, Dr. Robert (Bob) H.

Dr. Robert (Bob) H. Pool, 79, died on July 19, 2010 at the Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha, Iowa due to complications of pancreatic cancer. Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 23, 2010 at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 4700 Johnson Ave. NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405, with Rev. Gary Hoyt officiating. Burial will be at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Dorothy; daughter, Debra Rettenmeier (Dale) of Hiawatha, Iowa; son, Ron Pool (Heidi) of Ames, Iowa; and six grandchildren: Staci and Amy Rettenmeier of Hiawatha, Iowa, Luke Pettipoole (Megan) of Des Moines, Iowa, Ben and Ryan Pool of Aurora, Colorado, and Jordan Pool of Ames, Iowa.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Harold and Minnie Pool; and a sister, Venita Lodeane Frazier.

Bob was born in Hartville, Missouri on January 27, 1931. He went through grade school and high school there. He graduated as valedictorian. During his high school years, he assisted with the operation of the print shop part of the local newspaper, The Wright County Republican.

After high school, he attended Draughon's Business College in Springfield, Missouri and then went to work at the Wright County Bank in Hartville, Missouri. He worked there over a year, then resigned and took a trip to California. Afterward, he accepted a job as a dumpman for a daily paper in Springfield, Missouri.

He left the newspaper in 1950 and joined the U.S. Air Force, completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and then attending Aircraft Mechanics School at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. He specialized in B-47 bomber mechanics which then led him to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

He transferred to the U.S. Army in 1952, going into Airborne training, ending up at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in the 10th Special Forces Group (Special Forces later became the Green Berets). He was placed into personnel there to become the head of enlisted men's records. He was one of the first people to transfer to the 77th Special Forces Group from the 10th Special Forces Group when the latter went to Bad Tolz, Germany.

After being mustered out of the Army in March 1954, he worked for Peter Kewitt & Sons Company in St. James, Missouri where he met his future wife, Dorothy Lorts. He and Dorothy married June 12, 1955.

In the fall of 1954, he started attending the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (MSM) at Rolla, Missouri. He graduated from there in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in physics with minor in mathematics and electrical engineering. He went to work for Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa during the summer of 1957, returning there for a permanent position after graduating from college in June of 1958. He was an engineer/scientist at Collins Radio Company, later Rockwell-Collins.

While working at Collins Radio Company, he attained his Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1962 and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1972, both from the University of Iowa. In 1978, as part of Rockwell Collins, he became head of a research organization called the Communications and Signal Processing Group. He retired from Rockwell Collins in 1991 after 33 years.

After retirement in June of 1991, Bob and his wife Dorothy enjoyed traveling to various locations throughout the United States and overseas. For a while, Bob volunteered for the K-12 Program sponsored by Rockwell Collins. He later volunteered for Integrated Services in St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. His later years were spent with his wife at Deer Ridge in the Methwick Community of Cedar Rapids.

Bob had a great interest in photography and computers, always searching for the next challenge to unfold. He lived his faith throughout his life, being baptized as a young boy.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Bob's memory to St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 4700 Johnson Ave. NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405 or The Arc of East Central Iowa, 680 Second St. SW, Suite 200, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401.