Robert “Bob” Emmett Myers, Junior was born February 1, 1930 to Robert Emmett Myers and Ella Mae Shaver Myers in St. Louis, MO. His family moved to Rolla, Missouri and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and returned to the St. Louis area before his junior year of high school. He graduated from Webster Groves High School in 1942. From there, he attended Washington University in St. Louis where he earned a degree in Civil Engineering in 1952. He was immediately employed by Horner & Schifrin consulting engineers, and then drafted in to the US Army during the Korean War effort, serving as a Radar and Electronics Technician. After returning from military duty in 1954, he returned to work at Horner & Schifrin and earned his professional surveying registration and professional engineer status.
Bob Myers was a 7th generation surveyor. He liked to brag that one of his ancestors taught George Washington how to survey. He was named Missouri Surveyor of the Year in 1992 by the Missouri Association of Registered Land Surveyors.
In 1958 his grandfather strongly requested he start working in the family business, Myers, Keller, & Beyers Company, a surveying and engineering firm that had an exemplary professional reputation in the city of St. Louis. He became the president of Myers, Keller, and Byers company in 1965.
In 1971 Myers was selected to become the first State Land Surveyor of Missouri (and one of the first State Land Surveyors in the US), and moved his family to Rolla, Missouri, where he worked until his retirement in 1997. During his time as Missouri State Land Surveyor, he had a reputation for developing innovative programs. He established a Land Records Repository housing over 1.8 million land surveys and instituted programs to restore over 75,000 corner positions of the original United States Public Land Survey System in Missouri. Myers also developed standards for surveying which were nonexistent at the time the program was created. This included the use of the state coordinate system for the location of the boundaries, and when the global positioning system (GPS) became available he instituted this new technology into the precise determination of these coordinates. He directed the surveying of many disputed county and state boundaries and led the work that eventually settled the Missouri-Nebraska boundary that had been in dispute for over 70 years. He also served as chief engineer of the Dam and Reservoir Safety program for three years.
He was granted numerous awards during his career. The Missouri Association of Registered Land Surveyors created a special award given each year in his name. He was also honored by Washington University School of Engineering with the Alumni Achievement Award in 2001.
After retirement he remained active in local and national professional surveying organizations and as a consultant and teacher. In 2017 he coordinated a contest among local surveyors to determine the accuracy of methods used by surveyors today.
He served as officer and directors in several professional organizations, including The Missouri Society of Professional surveyors (MSPS), The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE). For over 20 years he represented the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) in the activities of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET). He was also an active member of the community, serving in many capacities for his home church of Immanuel Lutheran in Rolla Missouri, Kappa Alpha fraternity, the Boys Scouts of America, Toastmasters, and Kiwanis in both Rolla and St. Louis.
He married Virginia (Jinnie) Peterson Myers on June 30, 1956, a fellow Webster Groves high school classmate. They shared a love of the outdoors, faith in Christ, similar values, and loyalty to family and to friends from many areas of their life. They raised 4 children and were happily married for 57 years. She was very supportive of Myers’ efforts to create the land survey program and was instrumental in taking care of the family while Myers worked diligently to create the program and serve the surveying profession.
In 2012 he and Jinnie moved to Laclede Groves in Webster Groves and he became involved in their community by serving on local boards and veterans’ group, volunteering for church activities, and being a “Friendly Neighbor” for new residents. He was active in Stephens Ministries and enjoyed participating in shuffleboard and Wii bowling teams at Laclede Groves.
His hobbies included gardening, sailing, genealogy research, and educating people with interesting Missouri, St. Louis, and surveying stories. He also enjoyed swimming to keep physically fit. He was an avid reader. Bob always challenged his mind to learn new things such as maintaining league statistics on computer programs which he developed.
His professional accomplishments and commitment to service are only a small part of the person he was. He will be remembered as a kind, warm, and godly man who always had a smile to share. He was sincere and honest, always trying to do what is right and fair. He loved his children and grandchildren and they loved him. There was no better role model for being a husband, father, grandfather, or friend. He will be dearly missed by those who knew him.
Bob was preceded in death by his father (Robert Emmett Myers, Sr), his mother (Ella Mae Shaver Myers)`, and his wife (Virginia Peterson Myers). He is survived by his sister Dorothy (Robert) Stremmel, his 4 children John Myers, Beth (Scott) Dickerhoff, Martin Myers , and Paul (Lela) Myers, 9 grandchildren, Jacob (Nicky) Dickerhoff, Benjamin (Lindsay) Dickerhoff, Matthew Myers, Noah Haas, Zachary (Maria) Dickerhoff, Lucas Myers, Kevin Pappas, Abigail (Mark) Davidson, Demietra Myers and 8 great grandchildren, Griffin Dickerhoff, Josephine Dickerhoff, Oliver Dickerhoff, Eleanor Dickerhoff, Penelope Dickerhoff, Harper Dickerhoff, Walter Dickerhoff & Magnolia Dickerhoff.
Services will be held on Saturday, March 2nd at 1 pm in the Laclede Groves Chapel, 723 Laclede Station Road, Webster Groves, Missouri. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his honor may be made to Conquer Cancer (https://www.conquer.org) or Greater St. Louis Honor Flight (https://gslhonorflight.org).
