Robert J. Decker
January 7, 1923 — January 20, 2012
ROBERT JAMES DECKER Jim, as he was known, passed away on January 20, 2012, at MountainView Regional Medical Center. He was born January 7, 1923 in Kamabai, Sierra Leone, West Africa to parents Rev. Carmen C. Decker and L. Harriet Dillon. His youth was spent in Indiana and Africa, returning to the U.S. at age 19 to enter college. He served in the United States Army Air Corps during W...
ROBERT JAMES DECKER Jim, as he was known, passed away on January 20, 2012, at MountainView Regional Medical Center. He was born January 7, 1923 in Kamabai, Sierra Leone, West Africa to parents Rev. Carmen C. Decker and L. Harriet Dillon. His youth was spent in Indiana and Africa, returning to the U.S. at age 19 to enter college. He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II as a pilot of B-17 and B-26 airplanes. Following WWII, he received his BA degree from Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University), Marion, IN He earned his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. He met his wife, June Martin Decker, while attending college. Jim's first career assignment was at Texas Technical University in Lubbock, TX as Dean of Men. From there, he and June were commissioned as educational missionaries for the United Methodist Church to serve in the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was director of all the mission schools in an 800-mile radius in Shaba province. After his return, he took a position as Dean of Student Life at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After his time at USF, Jim was one of the founders and served as the first President of the Protestant university in Kinshasa, Congo. L'Universit
ROBERT JAMES DECKER Jim, as he was known, passed away on January 20, 2012, at MountainView Regional Medical Center. He was born January 7, 1923 in Kamabai, Sierra Leone, West Africa to parents Rev. Carmen C. Decker and L. Harriet Dillon. His youth was spent in Indiana and Africa, returning to the U.S. at age 19 to enter college. He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II as a pilot of B-17 and B-26 airplanes. Following WWII, he received his BA degree from Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University), Marion, IN He earned his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. He met his wife, June Martin Decker, while attending college. Jim's first career assignment was at Texas Technical University in Lubbock, TX as Dean of Men. From there, he and June were commissioned as educational missionaries for the United Methodist Church to serve in the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was director of all the mission schools in an 800-mile radius in Shaba province. After his return, he took a position as Dean of Student Life at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After his time at USF, Jim was one of the founders and served as the first President of the Protestant university in Kinshasa, Congo. L'Universit
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