After the five Panzer boys were surrendered to social services between April 1918 and 1919, their mother was hospitalized in an institution and their father, an overnight waiter, died in January 1919. In October 1922, the boys were sent west to Nebraska with the Children’s Aid Society, and the brothers found five homes near one another. Robert was placed with Earl Peck, who gave him a good home and a solid education. At 16, Robert worked as the janitor at the Methodist church, where he found his calling to become a reverend. He attended Nebraska Wesleyan University with his older brother Harold and, like Harold, was a talented track athlete who ran the mile and two-mile races. He was also active in theatre and forensics and was a founding member of the Crescent Fraternity. Robert later completed his Doctor of Divinity at Boston University and served churches in New Hampshire and California, including the First United Methodist Church in Sacramento from 1952 to 1974. He married twice and was the father of two children, Elizabeth and Robert. Robert and his brothers faced many hardships in life, but with help from others, hard work, and hope, they succeeded.