Introduction

Robert E. Lee Lamkin was born in Marshall, Missouri on 26 August 1885 to John C & Annie (Jones) Lamkin. The father, from a once prominent Northern Neck Virginia family, had left the ruins of that state after the Civil War to begin a new life in Missouri's "Little Dixie.".

A Confederate from the beginning, John C. Lamkin was wounded during the Seven Days (1862). Unable to march, he served as courier for General Heth until captured at Cold Harbor (1864). He was frequently in contact with General Lee. His respect for the latter and belief in the cause led him to name his youngest son for the Southern icon.

The son, small in stature like the father, also served as a courier, riding post in Saline County. After high school he attended a college in St. Louis to learn the drummer's trade. While there he participated in the sporting events associated with the 1904 World's Fair and Olympics. His mile relay team received a first place medal, and he placed third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet ten inches. While the Fair Committee considered all events "Olympic", subsequent International Olympic Committees have been more selective.

After school Bob returned to Marshall where he worked for the clothing store of Rose and Buckner owned by the same Buckner family that had a majority interest in Wood and Huston Bank at which his father was Vice President.

In 1907 at the age of 22, Bob Lamkin accompanied Charlie Buckner to Cape Girardeau to open the firm's newest store. The evening of the opening Mr. Buckner and Mr. Ragsdale made him an offer he could not refuse. He spent the next 71 years a Cape resident and its greatest cheerleader ending life with the well earned respect of those who knew of him and the title of "The Merchant of Main Street."

In REL Lamkin's obituary, Southeast Missourian editor John Blue wrote:

Mr. Lamkin consistently through the years worked through the Retail Merchants Association and as an individual for the continued progress of the downtown retailing area. On several occasions when it appeared the International Shoe Company plant might cease operations here, he was the leader among citizens who called on company officials in St. Louis and prevailed on them to maintain its operations.

Through the years Mr. Lamkin saw Main St. repeatedly flooded by the Mississippi River, his own store among the many which caught the water. He was a leader among the Main street interests who began work to have the federal government build a floodwall to protect the area, a monumental task that came to fruition in the early 1960's.

In the 1920's he was among a group of businessmen who realized that something should be done to preserve the remainder of Cape Rock - the traditional site of Louis B. Girardot's trading post - for future generations. (The building of the railway had blasted much of it away.)

They formed a corporation and through it purchased the property and also the land where the Cape Girardeau Country Club is located. Mr. Lamkin was a charter member of the Country Club and served it as a trustee.

Active in his professional group, Mr. Lamkin saw the need of an organization to promote retailing and to look towards its interests in Jefferson City. The result was the formation of the Missouri Retailers Association.

Mr. Lamkin was the last remaining charter member of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club, chartered on March 1, 1919. He served as club president in 1941-1942 during which the club gave financial assistance through the Rotary Club of Arboarth, England, to the community that had been bombed out by the Nazis.

The paper closed its post mortem editorial:

Cape Girardeau owes a debt to Mr. Lamkin and to that unusual group of men with whom he was associated in a period of remarkable development for this city. He was a true benefactor in many ways.