A memorial service for Robert Edgar Lemmon, age 76, who died April 26, 2017 at home in Rapid City, South Dakota, will be held on Monday, July 31, 2017 at the Rimrock Evangelical Free Church at 10:00am with Pastor Pat Karn officiating. Inurnment of his ashes will be in the Mountain View Cemetery in Rapid City.

Cremains will be buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Rapid City, South Dakota.

Robert Edgar Lemmon was born July 25, 1940 in Colfax, Washington, to Paul Edgar Lemmon and Berniece Mae (Teague) Lemmon. The family lived in Washington, California and Portland, Oregon prior to moving east.  While in Portland, he completed grade school and two years of high school and was active in the Boy Scouts of America, achieving the Eagle Scout Award in 1956.  He attended several high schools as his family moved about, graduating in 1959 from Washington Lee High School in Arlington, VA.  He attended American University in Washington, DC, obtaining a Bachelor's degree in 1964 majoring in Geology.  He earned his Master's degree in 1969 with a Geochemistry major and his Ph.D. degree in 1973 with a major in Structural Geology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He gained professional experience working for the U.S. Geological Survey (1961 – 1965) with field experience in Alaska and the Yukon Territory.  Following his Masters degree he worked as a Project Geologist (1970 – 1972), geologic mapping in western North Carolina for the N. C. Division of Land Resources out of the Ashville field office.  After receiving his doctorate, he took a position as Assistant Professor of Geology and Chemistry at the Citadel, Charleston, S. Carolina.  Here he received the James Self teaching award and was named in the "Outstanding Educators of America" (1975).  While living and working in Charleston, he met and married Barbara Diane Low on October 20, 1974.  They moved to Charlotte, N. Carolina where he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Earth Science for the next 5 years while continuing his research in western N. Carolina.  In 1981 he decided to continue his education and expand his work experience into the oil patch, hiring on with Houston Oil and Minerals as an Exploration Geologist.  HO&M was acquired by Tenneco Oil – Exploration and Production Co. and with time he advanced to Senior Exploration Geologist.  While in Houston he obtained Professional Geologist certification for North Carolina in 1986.  He remained in Houston until 1989 when Tenneco sold off the Exploration & Production Co., then moved to Bartlesville, OK to begin working as a Technology Manager for the Fossil Energy-Oil Program within the U.S. Department of Energy.  He enjoyed working with many national labs, universities, and private research organizations, supporting research and development efforts in the overall area of geological and geophysical diagnostic and imaging technology.  He retired in 2002 after 15 years of Federal service.  Following retirement, he continued running a small business involved in the manufacture and wholesale of a small scientific instrument, called a Forest Densiometer; designed and passed on to him by his father.  He was a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, the Salvation Army and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After moving to the Black Hills of South Dakota, July 2014, he enjoyed his service with the furniture ministry of Love INC (in the name of Christ) in Rapid City.  Other hobbies and interests included camping, being outdoors, hiking, gardening, old cars, animals (especially cats), sunrise and sunset, jogging, fishing and hunting, bee-keeping, volunteering as a first responder EMT and ambulance driver, re-loading ammunition, and riding his Goldwing motorcycle (with Barb as his back-seat-driver when able).

He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Berniece Lemmon.

He is survived by his wife Barbara D. Lemmon, his brother Richard E. Lemmon (Karin), his two daughters, Lisa (Lemmon) Davidson (Joseph Michael) and Paula (Lemmon) Crane (Carl Jr.) and 4 grandchildren, Morgan, Hannah, Adam and Sadie Davidson.

He was a very humble man, never stressing the fact he'd earned a PhD. He said he wanted to edit his obituary because he felt it was too long, but he did not have the final word on that!

Instead of flowers, Bob would prefer that you make contributions to: Love INC., P.O.Box 3255, Rapid City, SD, 57709 or your local Salvation Army organization.