Obituaries Tuesday

Obituaries Tuesday =

John R. Roep= ke (1926-2007)

WATERLOO — John Roy Roepke, 81, of Las Cruces, N.M., formerly of Waterloo, died Dec. 22, 2007, at MountainVi= ew Regional Medical Center, Las Cruces, of cancer.

He was born Oct. 6, 1926, in W= aterloo, son of Louis and Vera Roepke. He married Dorothy May Freschauf in June 1953= .

Mr. Roepke graduated from West Waterloo High School and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944. Following recruit training and Fire Control Operators School, he was assign= ed to the USS Burdo. He graduated from the Naval Academy, then served in the Pacific theater of operations on the USS Sandoval and USS Tucker. After graduating from the naval post graduate school in Monterey, Calif., he took command of the USS Summit County. From there he taught NROTC at the University of Notre Dame. He served two years in Vietnam as an adviser to their Na= val Academy. On his ret= urn to the United States, he was assigned as XO of the USS Rogers. After a tour in OP NAV, he was transferred to Oslo= , Norway, to NATO headquarters, Allied Forces North. He completed his naval career as XO/CO of the Naval Ordinance Missile Test Facility at White Sands, N.M. He had served in World War II, Korea<= /st1:country-region> and Vietnam. After retiring from the military, he signed on with Lockheed as a test/maintenance engineer at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility, retiri= ng in 1994.

Survivors include: his wife; a son, Tim (Dana); a daughter, Kim; two granddaughters; and a sister = Alberta (Edwin) Benedict of Charles City.

Memorial services: were Jan. 2 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Las Cruces, with inurnment in St. Francis = Garden Columbarium at Holy Cross Church. Getz Funeral Home, Las Cruces<= /st1:place>, was in charge of arrangements.

Memorials: may be directed to Mesilla Valley Hospice, 299 Montana Ave., Las Cruce= s, NM 88005.