Robert Decker

    Robert Godfrey Decker was a farmer, like his father, and never married. During the early part of his life at least, he lived and worked on a farm with his sister, Lena Decker, and her husband, George Janssen. His obituary appeared in the Gilman (IL) Star on 24 Jun 1937:
 

Robt Decker drops dead here Sunday

    "Robert G. Decker, 59, retired farmer and a resident of this city, dropped dead on the street near his home in the northeast part of town where he lived alone, shortly after one o'clock Sunday afternoon, death apparently being due to a heart attack.
    Funeral services were held in the Danforth Evangelical church at two o'clock Tuesday afternoon with Rev. C.F. Schriver officiating. Burial was in the Danforth cemetery.
    On Sunday Mr. Decker visited at the home of Mrs. Ada Levie, a neighbor, and had departed for his own home at about one o'clock. A few minutes later a son-in-law of Mrs. Levie, William Gantser of Kankakee, who was visiting at the Levie home, found him dead along the side of the road a few yards from his home, apparently having been stricken with a fatal heart attack while walking toward his home.
    Robert Godfrey Decker, the son of
George G. and Anna Classen Decker, was born in Danforth township on March 15, 1878 and spent practically all his life in the Danforth and Gilman communities where he was engaged in farming for many years and until he retired about 14 years ago.
    A coroner's inquest was held Sunday afternoon and the jury returned a verdict of death due to natural causes unknown.
    He is survived by two brothers, George of Gilman and
William of Roann, Indiana and two sisters, Mrs. Rena Newman of Kankakee and Mrs. Lena Janssen of Danforth.
    Besides his parents he was preceded in death by two brothers and two sisters, John and Fred Decker, Mrs. Ida Decker and Mrs. Mary Heiss."