Robert Wesley Hartel, 93 of Centralia died Wednesday, January 3, 2018 at the Missouri Veterans Home in Mexico.

Graveside Services with full military honors will be held 1:00 PM Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at the Glendale Memorial Gardens in Centralia.

Robert Wesley Hartel was born on January 11, 1924 in Butler Missouri to David William Hartel and Ella Searfus Hartel.

On November 7, 1943, he married Kathryn Sue Barbarick in Topeka, Kansas. Mr. Hartel served in World War II in the European, African, and Middle Theater as a technical sergeant in the US Army Air Corp, 98 ^th Bomb Group as a radio operator/mechanic and aerial gunner, completing 51 missions as a crew member of a B-24 heavy bomber. He was decorated with the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Presidential Unit Citation.

He worked in sales capacity for many years, and retired from Prudential Insurance Company in 1980. He was active in the Centralia community, serving on the Planning and Zoning, Alderman of Ward III, past president and board member of Centralia Senior Center, member of Kiwanis, First Christian Church, Centralia Historical Society, Neighborhood Watch, VFW, and volunteered at Boone Hospital Center. He served as a board member for Sunset Gardens, Inc., for eleven years. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and golf.

He is survived by two daughters, Bobbie Tetley of Centralia, Teresa McAllister of Jefferson City; four grandchildren; one great-grandchild, and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Kathryn, his brother, Denzil of Dallas, Texas, his sister, Marcine Leach of Butler, Missouri, and his son-in-law, John McAllister.

Memorial donations are suggested to the First Christian Church of Centralia, in care of Fenton Funeral Chapel, 104 S. Collier, Centralia, MO 65240.