Bob Johnston

(From Clark Funeral Home)

Robert (Bob) J. Johnston, 81, passed away on June 7, 2023. He was born October 15, 1941 in Webb City, Missouri to Paul M. and Anna N. ‘Dugger’ Johnston.

Bob was raised in the early years on his grandparents farm, south of Pittsburg, Kansas until the age of 8 and moved with his parents to Pittsburg, Kansas, starting the 4th grade at Washington School. He graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1959 and joined the U.S.A.F. in August of that year. During junior high school, he worked for the Ottoway Drive-In and during high school, he worked for the White Grill.

During his Air Force duty, Bob served in fifteen different countries, including, France, Holland, and Germany and was honorably discharged on July 16, 1963.

After his discharge, he attended Pittsburg State University, earning a B.S.B.A. and M.B.A.

Upon his graduation, he went to work in public accounting for four years and then started work in a manufactured housing industry in 1971 for Winston Delaware, Inc. as Controller and later as Vice-President. He later worked for New Style Homes, Inc. and American Family, Inc. in the same capacity. 

On March 15, 1990, he went to work for Gallery Graphics, Inc. in Noel, MO and remained there as Controller and Vice-President for the next twenty-five years. He then worked part-time for Underwood and Associates in Neosho, MO until April, 2017.

Bob is survived by his ‘most significant other’ for thirty-two years, Debra Underwood. He is also survived by his brother, Larry Johnston of Stockton, MO; his sister, Wanda Essig and husband, Clarence of Buckner, MO; his nephew, David Essig and wife, Lisa and their children of Kearney, MO and his niece, Denise Spivey and husband, Lee and their children of Independence, MO.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 11 am at the Clark Funeral Home Chapel of Memories. The family will receive friends, prior to the service from 10 am until service time. Graveside and military honors will be at 2:30 pm at the Old Pleasant View Cemetery, 5571 NE 85th St., Lawton, Kansas 93392. Contributions in memory of Bob may be made to Faithful Friends, c/o Clark Funeral Home, PO Box 66; Neosho, MO 64850.