Robert "Bob" Lawrence Lewis

ROBERT “BOB” LAWRENCE LEWIS, age 84 of Talmoon, MN, formerly of Owatonna, MN, died in the early morning of Monday, December 2, 2024 at Bridgewater in Janesville.

Bob was born in Kasson, MN, on September 22, 1940 to parents Lawrence and Lois (Johnson) Lewis. He went to school in Owatonna and graduated from Owatonna High School with the class of 1958. Immediately following his graduation he was stationed overseas with the United States Air Force from 1959 until 1963, specializing in Aircraft Crash Rescue and Missile Launch Pad Fire Control. He chose to remain in reserve service to the Air Force even after his honorable discharge from active service. Bob married Barbara Misgen on October 1, 1966, in Owatonna. Together they lived in Owatonna where they raised their family and Bob worked with the city’s Street Department. In 2001 after they both retired, Bob and Barb moved to their home in Talmoon, MN where they have lived ever since. 

Bob was an avid and accomplished outdoorsman, fisherman, hunter, and wildlife artist. He was a finalist in the competition to design Minnesota’s pheasant stamp and donated numerous works to Duck’s Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. He also touched countless lives by creating treasured portraits of people’s hunting and fowling dogs. He had a great appreciation for nature and the animals in it. He taught his daughters and grandchildren to respect the great outdoors – be it hunting amongst the pines for grouse, the fields for pheasants, the lakes for fishing, or the blinds for duck hunting. He always told his family, “Trust few, love many, and always paddle your own canoe” and he often told stories about getting up early to work at the creamery and he and his firefighting buddies ordering beer in German. Those stories will be sorely missed, but often remembered.

Bob is survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, Barb; two daughters, Jill (David) Olson, and Jodi (Brad) Staska; five grandchildren, Michaela Olson and her husband Tyler Cox, Hannah (Brandon) Goebel, Luke Olson (Kelsey Davis), Ben Staska and his fiancé Chantel Skala, and Nick Staska (Kaia Elstad); two great-granddaughters, Ellynor and Luella; a nephew, Terry Treanor; and a niece, Lisa (Frank) Volk. He was preceded in death by his parents; and his parents-in-law, Ben and Orpha Misgen.

Military honors will be performed at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 7, 2024, outside the St. Ann Parish Center in Janesville. A celebration of life gathering will follow from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. in the Parish Center.