Robert L. "Bob" Runkle, 82, died at home Sunday, September 5, at Windcove of Western Home Communities, following a three-year journey with cancer.
He was born October 14, 1927, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the son of R. Lester and Helene Black Runkle. He married Susan Mack on August 22, 1953, at First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio.
He graduated from St. Louis Park High School, Minnesota, in 1945. He received a bachelor's degree in 1950 from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree in social work from (Case) Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1954.
He served in the U.S. Navy 1945-46. In 1948-49, he served with the American Friends Service Committee in Europe. He cleared rubble in Wurzburg, Germany, helped convert the German High Command barracks in Berlin into a home and school for war orphans, and helped clear forests in northern Finland for homesteading refugees displaced by the war with the USSR. He also worked with the Germantown Schools Council in Philadelphia through the AFSC. He served with the Friends as a counselor in their first integrated summer workcamp in Pine Mountain, KY, in 1951. In 1952, he was a counselor for U.S. high school students working in France with high school students from Germany and France building a sewer line for a new school in Le Chambon.
He was employed by Goodrich Settlement House and Cleveland State Psychiatric Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio from 1954-1959. He returned to Iowa in 1959 to be a social worker for the Black Hawk County Mental Health Center, now Black Hawk Grundy Mental Health Center. His major professional interests were in mental-health group therapy, community-based services, patient confidentiality, and licensing of social workers. He became the executive director of the Mental Health Center from 1976 to his retirement in 1992. After retirement, he worked part-time for the Oelwein Mental Health Center for four years. He volunteered with the Cedar Valley Hospice from 2004-2010.
A lifelong photographer, he was also a longtime member of the National Association of Social Workers, and past board member of the Iowa chapter. He was a longtime member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a member for over 50 years of First Presbyterian Church, Cedar Falls, where he was a deacon and elder. He was on the boards of the Friends of KHKE/KUNI, and STAGE, Inc. He chose to donate his body to the University of Iowa Department of Anatomy.
Survived by: his wife, Susan Mack Runkle, their three children and six grandchildren, David (Patricia) Runkle, children Anne and Sarah Runkle; Laura Runkle (Mike Miller), children Sam and Libby Miller; and Paul Runkle, children Sydney and Kevin Runkle. He is also survived by his sister Dottie (Bob) Newick, of San Jose, California.
Memorial Services: 10 a.m. Saturday, First Presbyterian Church, Cedar Falls. Visitation from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, at First Presbyterian Church.
Memorials: To UNI Foundation for the Robert Runkle Scholarship in Social Work.
Condolences may be left www.richardsonfuneralservice.com.
He wanted to be remembered as believing in trusting God.
