Delbert Edwin Rodenberg

Delbert Edwin Rodenberg, age 93 of Napoleon, MO passed away peacefully at his home on April 22, 2025.

A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, April 26, 2025, at St. Paul Church in Napoleon. Interment with military honors will be in the St. Paul Cemetery. Celebration Gathering: All Family & Friends, whether able to attend the funeral or not, are invited to share stories, a light lunch, and greet the family at the church, lower level, right after the cemetery service, approximately 12:15 on Saturday. Memorials are suggested to St. Paul Church Cemetery Fund. Memories of Delbert and condolences for his family may be left at www.LedfordFamilyFH.com or on our Facebook Page. Arrangements have been entrusted to Walker-Nadler-Fuller Funeral Home, 1720 South Street, Lexington, MO  64067, 660-259-2245.

Delbert was born April 11, 1932 to EJ and Bertha Rodenberg (Czeschin) at the family farm in Napoleon. He was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years Roberta, and two sisters Dorothy Fahrmeier and Carolyn Schlapper. He is survived by daughter Diane (Greg) Goold; granddaughter Michelle (Joel) Mathews; great grandaughters, Reagan and McKinley of Independence; grandson Ryan (Danielle) Goold of Cave Creek, AZ; son, Gary (Lee) Rodenberg, Napoleon, grandchildren, Alex Rodenberg, Prairie Village, KS, Max Rodenberg, Wellington, MO, and Macy Rodenberg, Las Vegas, NV. He leaves behind many cherished, extended family and friends in his community and beyond.

After graduating high school in 1950, Delbert began his career at Armco (formerly Sheffield Steel) in Kansas City. Also, shortly after high school, Delbert met Roberta and they dated through his two-year military service with the US Army, 1952-1954, where Delbert served as an artillery trainer at Ft. Smith, AK before returning to resume his career at Armco. He married Roberta on September 25, 1955. During their early years together they lived in Napoleon, Wellington, and Independence where they met close friends both through their neighborhood and through Delbert’s work. They returned to Napoleon with their two children and built the current home in 1975.

Although he retired from Armco in 1987, Delbert had an inventive spirit and spent countless hours tinkering and solving mechanical problems outside of his workday. Starting in 1961 he invented a machine to assemble washers to bolts faster than any previous methods. He contracted with Armco Steel to build and produce his assembly machine, incorporated the business as Del-Rod, Inc, and was granted a patent on his invention in 1965. Del-Rod, Inc successfully operated near Napoleon for numerous contractors nationwide and employed 44 different people over 40 years.

Outside of work Delbert and Roberta took their kids all over the country in their very first pickup camper visiting destinations from Canada to Florida. The family upsized to a motor home and the travel continued until they visited all 50 states— even Hawaii three times! With the children no longer at home, the couple started touring Europe, traveling there seven times. In later years they became snowbirds, wintering in their motor home in either Arizona, Texas or Florida. In recent months since Roberta’s passing, Delbert loved best to tell stories of their travel together.

Delbert was a 50-year member of the Masonic Lodge in Lexington , an active member of the Shriners, and an Honorary Warrior of the Tribe of Mic-o-say, Boy Scouts, USA. More than anything else he was devoted to his partner Roberta and his two children.