Richard K. Roberts' Obituary
Richard (Dick) K. Roberts, 88, of Clinton passed away Tuesday, July 30, 2024 at Genesis Medical Center - East Campus.
Funeral Mass will be 10:30 am, Tuesday, August 6, 2024 at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Clinton. Burial will be in Clinton Lawn Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers will be Wes Letcher, Nathan Letcher, Michael Metheny, Zac Metheny, Chris Roberts and Ryan Roberts. Visitation will be Monday evening from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at the Clinton Chapel Snell-Zornig Funeral Homes and Crematory. Memorials can be made to the Clinton Housing Authority, Clinton Ecumenical Housing, or to the Sisters of Saint Francis.
Richard Kenneth Roberts was born August 2, 1935 in Waterloo, Iowa, the son of Kenneth and Ann (Maricle) Roberts. He married Nancy Ruth Opheim on November 7, 1959 in Clinton, Iowa; she preceded him in death on October 29, 2017. Richard was a 1953 graduate of Dowling High School in Des Moines, Iowa and earned his Bachelors Degree at Iowa State in 1957.
Earlier in his life, he was a vital member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and he played the guitar and led singing at Mass in the 60’s and 70’s. Dick and Nancy joined the CFM early in the 60’s and became group leaders. They became active in the Cursillo movement in the mid 60’s. They co-founded the Freedom Singers Youth group with Lee and Barb Bianchi and Father Steve Eble. They became involved in Marriage Encounter in mid 70’s and served on the Davenport Diocese ME board. Dick and Nancy served as president couple of the Davenport Marriage Encounter board from the mid to late 1980’s.
He was Co-Chair of Prince of Peace Faith facilities task force, charged with designing and building the new church which was dedicated in 2009. In 2014 Dick and Nancy became Sojourners of the Sisters of St. Francis in Clinton. Dick was a member of the Pax Christi, the Catholic Peace group.
He was involved with the Clinton Ecumenical Housing Board and served as the president of the board from 2010-2012. He was also involved with the Clinton Housing Authority from 2004-2016, serving as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners from 2006-2016. He was active in the Democratic party, serving as a delegate to many County Conventions and the district and state convention in 2008.
Dick worked at DuPont in several technical and management positions before settling in Research and Development where he worked for 23 years. During that time he earned three patents and traveled to many countries before retiring in early 1994.
Dick enjoyed spending time with his family and he and Nancy loved to travel. They were able to make it to many countries in Europe, Asia, Central and South American, plus Australia and New Zealand and all but one of the 50 states, many of them with their children. After Nancy passed away Dick took one more solo trip to Europe and in his final days talked a lot about that trip.
He is survived by his children: Michelle (Wesley) Letcher of Fulton, Karen (Mike) Metheny of Lexington, Kentucky, Patrick (Sue) Roberts of West Des Moines, Iowa and Susan Roberts of Hot Springs, Arkansas; seven grandchildren: Nathan Letcher, JulieAnne (Patrick Calligan) Metheny, Zachary Metheny, Johanna (Tyler) Stover, Christian (Maria) Roberts, Ryan Roberts and Isabel Roberts; siblings: Harry (Jackie) Roberts, Jim Roberts, Don (Cheri) Roberts, Mary Ann (John) Szymoniak and sister-in-law Judith Crawford Roberts and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife, brother Tom Roberts, sister-in-law Judith Brady Roberts and grandson Josiah Roberts
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