Robert “Bob” Jeffers, 92, of Syracuse, went home to be with the Lord and his wife of 52 years, the late Helen Icenhower Jeffers, at 5:30 a.m. at his residence on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Born June 16, 1920, in Columbus, Ohio, he was the son of the late James and Ethel Schiller Jeffers. Bob was a United States Army Veteran serving from February 13, 1942, until October 8, 1945, during World War II. During the Great War, he became a Tech Sergeant in the American, Pacific, and European Campaign Theaters, serving in Germany, France, and Newfoundland, where he received three battle campaign stars.

After the war in 1948, Bob operated a deep coal mine in Pomeroy, employing several Meigs County coal miners for many years until 1970. In 1970, his son, Roger Jeffers, joined the company until his son’s untimely death in 2003.

Bob attended the Middleport Wesleyan Bible Holiness Church and the Calvary Holiness Church. He was a lifelong businessman operating the Jeffers Coal, Trucking and Excavating Company in Pomeroy for over 60 years. He was a member of the Pomeroy Drew Webster Post #39 of the American Legion. He was a friend to everyone he met and treated everyone with compassion and kindness. He loved God, working, attending church, reading, and most of all, his family.

Bob is survived by four daughters, Sandra (Wetzel) Bailey, Dexter, Ohio, Donna (Jerry) Aleshire, Sr., Syracuse, Shirley (Roger) Lude, Syracuse, Patti (Mike) VanMatre, Letart, W.Va.; a daughter-in-law, Janet Jeffers, Richmond, Va.; eight grandchildren, Rhonda (Matt) Peters, Richmond Va., Bobby (Allison) Jeffers, Vinton, Ohio, Tara Wolfe, Syracuse, Jerry (Janna) Aleshire, Jr., Syracuse, Todd (Carrie Ann) Wolfe, Syracuse, Richard Peyton, Dexter, Michael (Brittany) VanMatre, II, New Haven, W.Va., and Amanda (Jay) Swisher, Hartford, W.Va. Also surviving are twenty-two great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; his sister, Zelma Gilmore, of Pomeroy, and a special niece, Janice Haas, of East Liverpool, Ohio, as well as several nieces nephews and a host of friends.

In addition to his parents, his wife Helen whom he married August 23, 1945, and preceded him in death on April 7, 1997, and his beloved son Roger, Bob is preceded in death by his brother, James Jeffers, Jr., a great-granddaughter, Isabella VanMatre, and several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.

Bob was a loving father and grandfather, and he will be sadly missed by all.

Funeral services will be on Sunday, March 24, 2013, at 1 p.m. in the Cremeens-King Funeral Home, 800 West Main St., Pomeroy, Ohio, with Brother Amos Tillis officiating. Interment will follow in the Letart Falls Cemetery with full military honors provide by Pomeroy, Drew Webster Post #39 of the American Legion. Bobby Jeffers, Jerry Aleshire, Jr., Todd Wolfe, Richard Peyton, Jr., Michael VanMatre, II, Josh Bell, Curt Jeffers, Michael Freeman, and Ethan VanMatre will serve as casketbearers. Honorary casketbearers will be Eric Stover, Daniel Spencer, Greg Weaver, Ben Coppick, Les Frank and Matt Frank.

Friends may call at the funeral home on Saturday from 1-8 p.m. and one hour prior to the service on Sunday.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Bob’s memory to the Middleport Wesleyan Bible Holiness Church, the Pilgrim Holiness Church, and the Syracuse Community Center.

Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family by visiting www.cremeensfuneralhomes.com.