Robert Louis "Bob" Franklin

1935 - 2025

Northfield - On November 15, 2025, after at least a dozen previous encounters, the Grim Reaper finally won a contest against Dr. Robert Louis "Bob" FRANKLIN, Ph.D., age 90, of Northfield, Minnesota. The Reaper attributes this success versus the man his family remembers as a deeply intellectual, eternally curious, and extremely kind and loving individual to catching Bob off guard at long last at a moment when he did not have a "Fermi question" readily in mind to pose, forcing Bob to participate instead in a game of chance clearly stacked in the Reaper's favor.

Bob was born February 21, 1935, near Salina, Kansas, to Walter Louis and Hazel Violet (ASHMAN) FRANKLIN. He was raised in the Evangelical United Brethren faith (which later became United Methodist), and it was through the church that he met his future wife Joan Janet CLARK. The two were united in marriage in Joan's hometown of Longford, Kansas, on June 6, 1961. Their first child, Sonya Joan, was born in 1967, and their second, Marcia Rachelle, followed in 1971.

Bob and Joan raised their family in LeMars, Iowa, where Bob was on the faculty at Westmar College. There they built a loving community of lifelong friends, and Bob spent many years teaching Chemistry, Physics, Industrial Arts, and anything else that was needed. He and Joan then moved down the road to Meriden, Iowa, where he had a second career in financial planning at American Express (later Ameriprise), and became a community elder in that small town.

Through the years, he made broad use of his Ph.D. in biochemistry as well as his love of teaching, skills as a machinist and weldor, and fascination with all things mechanical to provide materially for his family, as well as to indulge his innate curiosity and sense of moral obligation to humanity as a whole. (Perhaps most notable was the wind-driven refrigeration project that resulted in a 50-ft-high, dual-bladed windmill in the family's back yard.) He was always loving to and fiercely proud of Joan and their girls, especially while supporting his daughters in their various academic and personal pursuits.

In their later years, Bob and Joan moved to Northfield, Minnesota, to be closer to their daughters (by car or plane), where they met many new and valued friends. Although that move meant Bob had to give up his thousand-square-foot shop, where he had built (among many other things) a brass clock from the gears up, he never lost his keen interest in machines and how things work. He could as easily strike up a conversation about tractors as about chemistry or politics. He was a generous philanthropist within his means, dedicated to environmental issues, social justice, and human rights, in line with his lifelong faith.

Bob is predeceased by his parents and brother Bill FRANKLIN, and survived by his wife Joan; daughters Sonya (Jason TELFORD) and Marcia (Steve WRIGHT); granddaughters Catalina TELFORD, Hazel WRIGHT, and Violet WRIGHT; brother Mick (Dody) FRANKLIN; numerous nieces and nephews; and innumerable friends.

As the progression of Joan's Alzheimer's disease keeps her unaware of the depth of this loss, please direct all condolences or inquiries to Sonya or Marcia (sonyajfranklin@gmail.com, mrfranklin@etmeli.us). A memorial service to celebrate Bob's life is being planned for December 18, 2025, at 3:00pm at Northfield United Methodist Church in Northfield, Minnesota.