Dr. Robert R. Barels

Memorial services for Dr. Robert F. Barels, formerly of Carroll, will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the First Presbyterian Church in Carroll. Memorials may be left at the church for Carroll First Presbyterian Church or Kimberling City United Methodist Church. Dr. Barels, 97, died on Friday, October 2, 2009 at Hoosier Village nursing home in Indianapolis, Indiana. A son of Edward R. and Julia (Anneberg) Barels, he was born on November 8, 1911, at Des Moines, Iowa. The family moved to Storm Lake, Iowa when he was a young boy. He graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1929 and entered the University of Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa Dental School receiving his doctor of dental surgery degree in 1934. He began his dental career in Carroll that same year. His first office was located in the Anneberg & Martin Clinic which later became the Carroll Medical Center. In May of 1943 he joined the U.S. Army dental corps and served three years at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. He received an honorable discharge with the rank of captain in July of 1946. He returned to his dental practice in Carroll. In 1954, he moved to the newly-constructed Carroll Dental Associates building at 822 North Main Street where he practiced dentistry and orthodontia until his retirement in 1983. On November 17, 1938 he and Wilma Otto were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Carroll. They lived at 1226 N. Main Street. Wilma Barels died on September 20, 1975. Two years later he married Irene Bentzinger Flohr of Storm Lake. Dr. Barels was an active member of First Presbyterian Church serving as treasurer, trustee, deacon, and ruling elder. He was a member of the Carroll Chamber of Commerce; served two terms, one as president, of the Carroll Community Schools Board of Education; was a long-time member of the Carroll Rotary Club serving as its president in 1940-41; he helped bring foreign students to Carroll through the American Field Service program and later sponsored a student from Iceland; Dr. Barels was a life member of the American Dental Association, the Iowa Dental Society, the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Orthodontic Society, and served on the dental staff of St. Anthony Regional Hospital. After his retirement, he and Irene settled in the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri near Kimberling City. The Barels were active in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary on Table Rock Lake and served for twenty-five years. Dr. Barels was Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla commander in 1991 and 1992. He was an avid outdoorsman particularly enjoying fishing and hunting. Other hobbies included woodworking, wood carving, gardening, swimming, ice-skating, skeet shooting, reading, and traveling. He enjoyed his grandchildren and family outings. Survivors include his wife, Irene of Indianapolis; two daughters: Becky Drahovzal and her husband Jim of Lexington, Kentucky and Penny Wade and her husband Gordon of Carroll; a step-son: Ray Flohr and his wife Anna of Indianapolis; four grandchildren: Rob Drahovzal and his wife Shelley of Grand Forks, North Dakota, Beth Drahovzal of Clarksville, Tennessee, Sarah Drahovzal of Old Town, Maine, and David Wade and his wife Carolyn of Carroll; two step-grandchildren: Brian Flohr, a student at Purdue University and Sarah Flohr of Chicao, Illinois; eleven great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. Dr. Barels was preceded in death by his wife, Wilma, his brothers Edward and Donald, a step-son, Robert Flohr, and a great grandson, Jason Wade.