Robert “Bob” Heng was born and raised in a tight-knit farming community populated by extended family just south of Nebraska City. He was the oldest son of a family of five (but with three older sisters) and grew up going to the proverbial one-room school house, helping out on the farm, and learning to dance, mainly because his sisters needed to practice. This would end up being a lifelong pleasure of his.

 

As per his Nebraska City High School Yearbook description, “Ever Carefree Bob” was the typical teenager: he valued laughing and joking with his friends, pulling memorable “bushwhacking” pranks and drag-racing his best friend to school down country roads. During his Senior Year of high school he went to join the Navy but finding the Navy recruiter out to lunch when he arrived, was talked into joining the Army instead. He was stationed in Okinawa right after the Korean War and worked as a mechanic, skills that benefited him and his family’s driving habits for the rest of his life.  

 

Upon leaving the Army, he returned home, met a smart young secretary, Arlene (Scudder), while delivering farm eggs to her boss. He married her less than a year later.  He obtained his teaching degree from Peru State Teachers College while starting a family and driving a school bus to make ends meet.  With his new diploma in hand, he loaded up his young family (three kids by this time - Patrick, Michelle and Jeffrey) and moved them to California.  Five years, two jobs, and one additional child later (Scott), the family headed back to Nebraska, settling in Lincoln.  There he got a Biology/Science teaching job at Lincoln East High School where he stayed for the next 30 years.  During that time he kept (very) busy attending all of his four children’s extracurricular activities, running the concession stands for all of the East High School sporting events, selling Amway, starting a small imported candy company for school booster clubs, and being an integral member of St. Teresa’s Parish and the local Knights of Columbus.  Somewhere in the midst of all this activity, he managed to teach his way into being named :  “the 1977 Outstanding Biology Teacher for the State of Nebraska  by the state chapter of the National Association of Biology Teachers.”

 

Sadly, Bob’s first wife Arlene died in 1983.  By 1985, he had convinced another fine woman, Jan (Elefsrud) to marry him and gained three wonderful step-daughters (Renee, Robyn and Richelle) in the bargain.  After retiring from Lincoln East, Bob became a Science Teacher at Southeast Community College and continued there until he had more than 50 years of teaching under his belt and finally called it quits - but not before he was featured in the Lincoln Journal-Star for his lengthy teaching career.  Three generations of Nebraskans have benefited from having a teacher whose uncritical view of the world embraced laughter, grace and kindness.  

 

Unfortunately, Bob lost his second wife Jan in 2007.  After seven years, he decided a bachelor’s life wasn’t for him and married Bonnie Zetterman, a fellow teacher from East High School and a decades-long friend.  

 

Before time caught up with him, Bob was a bit of a Jack-of-All-Trades.  He could fix pretty much anything that had to do with a car or other machine.  He single-handedly remodeled his first house in Lincoln, knocking down and putting up walls, putting in a new kitchen and building a new addition by himself (and teaching his children a colorful vocabulary of curse words along the way!). After putting in a long day’s work, you would find him with a beer or a 7&7 in his hand watching a wildlife documentary on PBS.  He used to both annoy his children by playing old-timey country music in the car and amaze them by identifying the make, model and year of every car (over 20 years old) they passed on the road.  His ability to finish all the food on the table by the end of each dinner was legendary.  Once the kids were grown and out of the house, Bob loved to go dancing, host dinner parties and could be found every Saturday morning at The Village Inn on 33rd and O having breakfast with a group of friends from church.  He took up downhill skiing late in life and at age 70 climbed Long’s Peak and went skydiving. He was always on the go. 

Regardless of all of his other talents, Bob’s true Super Power was always his dedication to his family.  They always came first and he went to bat for them with time and treasure too many times to count.  Seven children, 24 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren all know how lucky they are to have had such a loving patriarch. As a family we will not only need to figure out how to live without him, but more importantly, we will need to figure out how to live up to him.  

Family Present 9-10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 30, 2025 at St. Joseph Catholic Church. 1940 South 77th Street, Lincoln, NE.

Rosary will be at 10 a.m. (Dec. 30) followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30am. Burial will follow at Lincoln Memorial at 1:30 p.m.

Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home in Lincoln is in charge of arrangements. (www.bmlfh.com)