ROBERT J. ASHBAUGH

SIKESTON -- Robert J. Ashbaugh, 80, of Sikeston died Sunday, July 28, 1996, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

He was born Oct. 18, 1915, near Clarkton to the late Walter Bethel and Florence Ginny Dunn Ashbaugh.

He was a retired farmer, a 32nd-degree Mason and a member of the Clarkton Masonic Lodge 406, AF and AM. He was a member of the Scottish Rite, a Shriner and member of the Moolah Shrine Temple in St. Louis. He served on the church board of the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston, was a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Clarkton and a member of the Sikeston Rotary Club where he was made a Paul Harris Fellow.

He married Dorothy Dennis Dec. 24, 1935, in Piggott, Ark.

He is survived by his wife, a son, retired Air Force Col. Michael Ashbaugh, of Albuquerque, N.M.; a daughter, Jo Anne Smiley of St. Louis; a brother, Bernard D. Ashbaugh of Ava; a sister, Virginia C. Smelser of Jefferson City; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.

He was preceded in death by a son.

Friends may call at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston from 5 to 8 p.m. today. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Charles E. Buck officiating. Burial will follow in Mount Gilead Cemetery in Clarkton.