[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 101 (Monday, July 9, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1210-E1211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN REMEMBRANCE OF MR. ROBERT JOHN ``BOB'' MESLER, AS PRINTED IN THE 
                  MIDLAND DAILY NEWS ON JUNE 21, 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DAVE CAMP

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, July 9, 2012

  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, Robert John ``Bob'' Mesler, Jr., 87, longtime 
Midland resident, World War II veteran and retired Manager of Emergency 
Response for The Dow Chemical Company, passed away Wednesday, June 20, 
2012, after a lengthy illness. Bob was born on January 4, 1925, in Cass 
City, Michigan, to Robert John Mesler, Sr. and Ethelyn Louise (Smith) 
Mesler. The Meslers moved to Midland from Saginaw in 1941. Bob was a 
January, 1943 graduate of Midland High School, where he played football 
and ran track. He began his career at The Dow Chemical Company 
immediately after graduation. Less than six months later, Bob was 
drafted into the U.S. Army, and after basic training, was assigned to 
the Army Specialized Training Program at Hendrix College, Arkansas.
  Bob married his high school sweetheart Margery Keicher on August 16, 
1944, a month before shipping out to England, then to Belgium where he 
served in the U.S. infantry. During the Battle of the Bulge in January 
1945, Sargeant Mesler was taken prisoner, escaping his captors at the 
end of April 1945, a few weeks before V-E Day. He was initially 
reported missing, and it wasn't until he had escaped that his family 
learned he'd actually been a POW.
  ``At the present, we live for the future, but we will long remember 
the past,'' he wrote home in an April 8, 1945 letter to his bride that 
vividly described his capture and treatment at the hands of his German 
captors, long marches and strafing by friendly fire. He was serious 
about remembering the past. Whatever it cost him in painful memory, he 
talked about those wartime experiences with generations of inquiring 
middle and high school students, as well as with those now-grown 
children of his fellow World War II veterans who perhaps hadn't shared 
their stories as candidly. Though he rarely claimed the distinction, 
Bob was proud to have served as a member of ``The Greatest 
Generation.'' With Marge by his side, he revisited the Ardennes 
battlefield in 1989, where he was impressed by a local memorial to his 
fallen comrades. ``It kind of finished off some unfinished business I 
had,'' he said upon returning home. Fifteen years later, Bob and fellow 
Midland veterans Max Bottomley and Bill Kennett--father of Midland 
Daily News reporter John Kennett--joined their fellow honorees in 
Washington, D.C. at the dedication of the National World War II 
Memorial.
  With his war service completed, Bob attended Central Michigan 
University, graduating in 1949, with a B.S. in Biology. He resumed his 
career at The Dow Chemical Company, capping his 40-year career there by 
retiring as Manager of Emergency Response. Always active in his church 
and community, Bob's civic efforts included two terms on Midland's 
Parks and Recreation Commission, the presidency of the Jaycees, and 
being district manager for then-Congressman William Schuette. A 
talented craftsman, Bob also worked on the crew that restored the 
Midland County Courthouse. Until recently, Bob was the Buildings and 
Grounds committee chair for St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland, 
where he had previously served terms on the church vestry as both the 
senior and junior warden, as well as being a Sunday School teacher and 
youth leader.
  An avid sports booster, Bob coached and refereed Little League 
baseball as well as coaching Pee Wee Football. Bob and Marge raised two 
sons; Jeff (Sheila) Mesler and Greg Mesler, both of whom survive him, 
as does Jeff and Sheila's son Kyle Robert Mesler. Bob's brother Garry 
(Jean) Mesler also survives him, along with nieces and nephews Kim, 
Liz, Kevin, Patti, Jim, Ethelyn, Mike, Lyn, John, Janette, Sherry, Mary 
and Bill.
  Bob was ``stand-in grandfather'' to Anna, Maria, Cate and Matt. His 
extended family, the ``Gang,'' includes Niki (Don) Beckwith, Max and 
Martha Bottomley, Gloria and Pete Lehman, Bill and Bonnie Kennett, 
Grace and Mike Merrell, Janet (Larry) Lang, Helen (Bob) Ward and 
Caroline (Al) Gunkler. Bob was preceded in death by his parents; and 
two brothers, James Russell Mesler and James Richard Mesler.
  Memorial Services will take place at 11 a.m., Monday, June 25, 2012, 
from St. John's Episcopal Church, The Rev. Rob Skirving and The Rev. 
Mike Wilson will officiate, with inurnment to take place in the church 
mausoleum. Bob's family will receive friends at the Ware-Smith-Woolever 
Funeral Home, 1200 West Wheeler Street on Sunday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. 
Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider the Toni 
and Trish House or Shelterhouse. Full military honors will be presented 
by the Midland Area Veterans and the Department of the U.S. Army.
  The family would like to give special thanks to Bob's Midland 
doctors, to Dr. Washer of the University of Michigan, and especially 
Dr. Hafez of the University of Michigan, for all the special care they 
gave Bob. Thanks also to the staff of MidMichigan Home Care (Hospice) 
and Bob's special nurse Raime.

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