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<p><em>Robert Callan “Bob” Westerfeldt </em> was born in Fredericksburg, TX on March 15, 1934 and grew up on a small family farm. Bob became a strong, proud Texan and graduated from Fredericksburg High School in 1952. He then attended the University of Texas (UT), Austin for one year. In addition to his studies, while at UT he got his private pilot’s license, flew model airplanes with his friends in Fredericksburg and explored caves with his spelunking club at UT.</p>
<p>He was nominated for West Point by then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and entered the Academy in July 1953 as one of the Class of 1957’s 546 graduating members. According to his <em>Howitzer</em> entry, Bob was very active as a cadet, serving in the Pistol Club for three years, the Ordnance Club for three years, the Model Airplane Club for four years and the Russian Club for two years. During his senior year, he was secretary of the Model Airplane Club and president of the Ordnance Club. Academically, Bob was a “hive,” falling just about within the top 25 percent of his class. The <em>Howitzer</em> also identified Bob as an easygoing, sociable and helpful classmate per this comment in his yearbook entry: “The Texan’s abilities and easy-going manner made him a ‘Damned Jewel’ to have around as a classmate.” Clearly, Bob was identified as a most successful and emerging leader as he completed his West Point years.</p>
<p>Bob graduated West Point on June 4, 1957 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Ordnance, detailed initially to the Armor branch, which provided him the requisite junior officer experience in a combat arm. Immediately after graduation, Bob proceeded to Ranger School. One of Bob’s Company G-2 classmates was his Ranger buddy and offered these comments about Bob: “He was a quiet, reserved cadet, well liked and respected. When we graduated and headed to Ranger School, we wound up as Ranger buddies who were supposed to help each other throughout the grueling Ranger experience. I never was much of an athlete, but Bob was a rock. Without his quiet, firm help, I would not have completed Ranger School. His strength and faith were always there.”</p>
<p>Bob’s first Army unit assignment was with the 66th Armor at Fort Hood, TX for two years. He then served at Redstone Arsenal from 1959 to 1960, learning basic Ordnance officer management and technical skills that he would continue to refine throughout his career. Two years of graduate school at the University of Alabama followed, with Bob receiving a master’s degree in electrical engineering. While there, he met Claudia Derrick from Clayton, GA, and they were married on July 16, 1961. Then it was on to West Point, where Bob taught ordnance engineering in USMA’s Ordnance Department from 1961 to 1964.</p>
<p>On May 2, 1963, Bob and Claudia’s only child, Robert Christian Westerfeldt, was born. Robert, a smart and very determined young man, “full of surprises” according to Claudia, advanced quickly in school. He was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis but refused to let the disease define his life. He passed his high school GED exam at age 16 and was accepted for admission to New York’s prestigious Columbia School of Law, where he graduated with multiple degrees and also met and married Teri, his sweetheart from Tennessee. They moved to Washington, DC, where Robert became a very successful lawyer. After eight years of marriage, Robert succumbed to cystic fibrosis in 2001 at the age of 38.</p>
<p>Bob continued to serve his country with many different Army assignments around the world, including two tours in Heidelberg, Germany, one tour in the Republic of Vietnam, a Florida assignment, military exercises in Alaska and multiple tours at Redstone Arsenal, AL. With advanced schooling, technical ordnance missile assignments and teaching experience in ordnance engineering at USMA, Bob became a certifiable Army missile expert and scientist. </p>
<p>He retired from the Army at Huntsville, AL in 1980 after more than 20 years of service and then had long technical careers at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in Huntsville and at Redstone Arsenal’s Missile Intelligence Agency (MIA). In 2003, Bob retired again in Huntsville, where many of his Army, missile and West Point buddies were living. His favorite activities became leading the “Martinis and Manuscripts Book Club” at the Ledges Country Club, attending West Point Founders Day celebrations with other members of the West Point Society of the Tennessee Valley, visiting his West Point alma mater, and taking his wife, Claudia, out to eat at their favorite restaurants. During his retirement, Bob courageously survived two stem cell transplants for multiple myeloma caused by Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. </p>
<p>Bob was preceded in death by his parents, W.C. “Westy” and Myrtle Mathisen Westerfeldt; his son, Robert Christian Westerfeldt; and his nephew Ben Clark. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Claudia Derrick Westerfeldt of Huntsville, AL; his son Robert’s wife, Teri; his sister, Maren “Marney” Westerfeldt Clark Caldwell of Houston, TX; his niece, Susan Clark Beisert, and her husband, Steve, of Houston, TX; his grandnephew, Robert Beisert, and his wife, Ruchi, of Milwaukee, WI; his grandnieces, Emily Kristin Beisert of Midland, TX and Elizabeth Ann Beisert of Richardson, TX; and his first cousins: Patricia Base Jobe of Austin, TX, Jack Westerfeldt of Odessa, TX, and Marian Westerfeldt Seglem, also of Odessa.</p>
<p>For over 60 years, Bob honorably served his country, his family and his alma mater. He will be missed. Well Done, Bob; Be Thou at Peace.</p>
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