Robert \"Bob\" William Holzapfel passed away peacefully on May 16, 2014, at Ozark Medical Center in West Plains, Missouri, after a short battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Arleen McDaniel Holzapfel, of Caulfield, Missouri; his children, Linda Holzapfel Lindsey (spouse, Ronald) and Frankie Holzapfel Tntesdell (spouse, Baron), both of McKinney, Texas, and Richard Holzapfel (spouse, Jeni) of Provo, Utah; fourteen grandchildren; fourteen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and seventeen nephews and nieces.
Bob loved, as his own, his brothers\ children, Pat Holzapfel Impagliatelli, Alice Holzapfel Evans, George Holzapfel, Carolyn Holzapfel Payne, Bill Holzapfel (deceased), Fred Holzapfel, and Art Holzapfel.
His father, mother, stepmother, and two older brothers (Art and George Holzapfel) preceded him in death.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Arthur and Norma Stein Holzapfel on October 2, 1933, he lost his mother when he was three years old. Bob\s father eventually married Lamberta Wachter, who loved him and raised him.
Bob attended William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and Missouri University in Columbia, Missouri. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1954. He married Arleen McDaniel on November 20, 1959, in Blackfoot, Idaho.
An early graduate of the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power School at Arco, Idaho, in 1960, Bob was immediately assigned to the fust operating nuclear submarine in the Pacific, USS Swordfish (SSN 579). Later, he served at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine; the Small Craft Repair Facility, Da Nang, Vietnam; the U.S. Naval Station, Point Loma, California; and the U.S. submarine base, Holy Loch, Scotland. Bob retired as a lieutenant commander in 1975 after twenty-one years of dedicated service to his country.
He and Arleen then moved to south-central Missouri where they have lived, raising cattle on then farm. During this second career, Bob was involved with many civic organizations and causes, including the Twin Lakes Base of the Submarine Veterans group. He helped organize the Ozark County Ambulance District. The American Red Cross recently awarded him a 17-gallon blood-donation pin.
Completely honest and trustworthy, Bob lived an admirable life because he was a modest man who treated people with respect and concern. Countless family members, friends, and neighbors will remember him as a generous man, a \"Good Samaritan\" to the people he met along the way during his mortal journey.
A visitation will be held on Friday, May 30, 2014, at Langston Street Chapel, connected to the Robertson-Drago Mortuary, 211 West Main Street, West Plains, Missouri, between 7 and 8 pm. A funeral will be held on the following day, Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the same location beginning at 2 p.m. with a visitation beginning at 12 noon. Interment will be at the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park, 1711 South Camp Williams Road, Bluffdale, Utah, on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or charity of choice.
