Robert E. Jendral, who served for 17 years as a Roberts Park Fire Protection District commissioner, usually downplayed his position, encouraging praise instead for the district’s firefighters. “If someone mentioned he was a commissioner, he would say it was nothing,” said his wife, Nancy. “He admired the firefighters who were there and what they did. He said he couldn’t believe the courage of those guys.” The district is based in Justice and also serves Hickory Hills. Mr. Jendral, 70, of Hickory Hills, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Thursday, July 29, in a Kentucky hospital. He and his wife were driving to their retirement home in Florida when he became ill. He was raised in Elmwood Park and River Grove. After high school, he joined the Marines in 1953, serving three years at Camp Pendleton in California. When he left the service, a family friend in the bedding manufacturing business offered him a job and he decided to try it, then found he enjoyed learning the business. About the same time, he was introduced to his future wife through her uncle. The couple married in 1957 and eventually settled in Hickory Hills. Over the years, he worked as plant manager at bedding companies in Chicago and Kansas City before joining Englander Bedding Co. in Chicago, retiring as manager of its plant in 1995. He retired from the fire protection district nine months ago. Other survivors include a daughter, Karen Gasparas; a son, Jon; three sisters, Margaret Szafranski, LorraneKuhrt and Virginia Wright; and five grandchildren. A mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Patricia Catholic Church, 9050 S. 86th Ave., Hickory Hills.
