Robert "Bob" Lembke

Robert Thomas Lembke was born on July 29, 1936. He was raised by his parents, Floyd and Esther (Thomas) Lembke, in Appleton, MN. Bob attended high school in Appleton, graduating in 1954. Following his schooling, Bob entered the United States Army serving two years as a sergeant in military intelligence stationed in Seoul, Korea before being honorable discharged in 1957. After his time in the service, Bob completed his undergraduate work at Mankato State College majoring in Social Science and speech and continued there to earn his Master’s degree in counseling. In 1960, Bob was united in marriage to Janet Mondahl in Blue Earth, MN. After being a high school counselor for four years in northwest Iowa, he served as counselor and psychology teacher at Iowa Lakes Community College 1966 - 1967. In 1969 he earned his doctoral degree in counselor education from the University of South Dakota which led to him being the director of the Counseling Center at USD and assistant professor of Counselor Education. In 1971 he accepted an associate professor of Psychology and Counselor Education at Wayne State College in Nebraska. In 1974 he became an associate professor for the Department of Education Administration and Counseling at the University of Northern Iowa where he retired after twenty-four years in 1998. Janet passed away in 2000. During one of his trips back to his hometown of Appleton for a class reunion, Bob reconnected with one of his classmates, Alice (Heldt). Bob moved to Alexandria to be closer to Alice, and the two were married in 2010.

Bob was a member of the Elks in Cedar Falls, IA and later in Alexandria. He enjoyed camping, fishing and wintering in Texas.

Bob died on Monday, October 19, 2020, at the Knute Nelson Care Center. He is survived by his wife: Alice Strand-Lembke; son: David (Nikki) Lembke; grandson: Kyle (Rachel) Lembke; and great-grandson: Colin Lembke. He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife: Janet (Mondahl) Lembke; son: Daniel Lembke; and brother: Richard Lembke.

A memorial service will be held on Thursday, November 5, 2020 at 11:00 am at Anderson Funeral Home in Alexandria. The family will be virtually attending, but the public is welcome to attend. For anyone unable to attend, this memorial service will be live streamed from Bob's obituary page on the Anderson Funeral Home website.