Robert M. Gram, 98 of Belmond passed away Friday, May 1, 2020 at Iowa Specialty
Hospital Belmond.
Private family graveside service will be held in June.
Robert Maurice, son of Bertel and Edna (Francis) Gram, was born on September 24,
1921 in rural Belmond, Iowa. He grew up in the Belmond, Clarion and Rowan area
attending country schools until moving to Rowan in 1935 and graduated from Rowan
High School in 1939. Robert worked at the nearby grocery stores in Rowan and
Nora Springs.
He enlisted in the Navy October 1942 and was sent to Great Lakes in Chicago and
assigned to Radio School in Auburn, Alabama and Norton Heights,
Connecticut. Robert served aboard ship in the Atlantic for 1.5 years then a
naval airbase in the Philippines until the end of the war, arriving home in
January 1946.
On February 19, 1947 Robert was united in marriage to Dorothy Lindsey in Rowan.
They farmed in the Belmond and Rowan areas and Robert drove school bus until
1966. He then worked at Nelson Sand and Gravel as office manager and bookkeeper
until retirement in 1986.
After retiring, Robert and Dorothy enjoyed traveling on long bus tours over most
of the United States plus two ocean cruises. After Dorothy's death in 2001,
Robert moved to the Belmond retirement apartments and then to Belle Haven in
December 2018.
Robert is survived by daughters, Elaine Gram of Lakota, Iowa, Sally (Vern)
Gordon of Belmond, Paula (Lee) Wilmarth of Decorah, Iowa; grandchildren Angela
(Seth) Pacha, Adam (Tracy) Gordon, Aimee (Andrew) Mellein, Elizabeth (Paul)
Theede, Melissa Wilmarth, Kevin Wilmarth; great-grandchildren Kayla & Addison
Pacha, Meredith & Gavin Gordon, Benjamin & Brooklyn Mellein, Avery, Madelyn &
Andrew Theede; sister, Shirley (John) Lager of Clarion and many nieces and
nephews.
Robert is preceded in death by wife Dorothy, sister Marian Aldrich, brother
Raymond Gram.