Robert A. Hope

Robert Hope, age 84, of Aurora died Saturday, August 23, 2008, at Memorial Community Care.

Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 A.M., Tuesday, August 26th at the Aurora United Methodist Church. Rev. Cole Fowler will officiate. Interment will be in the Aurora Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 P.M. Monday at Higby-McQuiston Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Hamilton Community Foundation or the Aurora United Methodist Church. Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through the mortuary website at www.higbymortuary.com.

OBITUARY: ROBERT A. HOPE

Robert Allen Hope, the son of Lawrence Noel and Matilda Margaret (Helm) Hope, was born in Wyoming, Nebraska on May 26, 1924 and died at Aurora, Nebraska on August 23, 2008, at the age of 84.

Bob’s father died when he was 8 years old. He said growing up in the 30’s was hard. Bob graduated from Nebraska City High School in 1941. He entered the U.S. Army in January 1943 and was honorably discharged in January 1946. Bob served 1 ½ years in the States and 1 ½ years in China-Burma-India in the 1891st Engineers outfit as a demolition expert. He was awarded three Bronze Campaign Stars for his service. He went to work for Brauner Furniture, three days after returning home.

On August 26, 1949, he was united in marriage to Evelyn Lydia Damme at McWilliams Church near Talmage. They had four children; Nancy, Gordon, Jon and Alan. They moved to Aurora in 1953, where Bob worked for Chapman Furniture. He bought Chapman Furniture on January 1, 1960 and was renamed Bob Hope Furniture. Bob started Bob Hope Furniture in Central City in September 1990. He would call himself a workaholic. Bob developed retinitis pigmentosis in his eyes in 1971, his eyes had gotten gradually worse since that time. Evelyn passed away on May 1, 2008.

Bob was a member of the Aurora United Methodist Church, the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion since 1946 and the V.F.W. since 1953. He was a former member of the Eagles, Elks, the Aurora Country Club, where he had served a term as president and Bob served on the Aurora Volunteer Fire Department for 14 years. They enjoyed traveling, taking bus tours and going to the China-Burma-India military reunions each year.

He was preceded in death by his parents, wife; son, Gordon Hope, an infant son, two brothers and a sister.

Those who remain to cherish his memory are his daughter, Nancy (Dale) Sallans of Platte, South Dakota; two sons, Jon (Terri) Hope of Aurora and Alan Hope of Grand Island; 6 grandchildren, Jessica (Casey) Peterson, Nathaniel Sallans, Justin, Jamie, Jeremy and Joel Hope and 2 great-grandchildren, Breanna and Clark Peterson and his brother, Bill Hope of Phoenix, Arizona.