Robert was reared on and near the farm of his Grandfather and Grandmother Laughlin, which he later purchased from his Grandmother in the mid-1950s. The farm was located in the Agee Community near the northern border of Poplar Bluff township in Butler County, Missouri about 5 miles north of the Poplar Bluff city limits and was bordered on the east by Black River. He obtained an eighth grade education from the Agee School in rural Butler County, Missouri.

He was drafted into the army in 1944 and served in Troop A, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Asiatic Pacific Theatre during World War II. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and two bronze battle stars, among other medals, and was one of the first to enter Manila, where his regiment was involved in liberating the internees as Santo Tomas, and Tokyo, where, among other duties, he stood guard at the Imperial Palace. After the War, the First Cavalry Division proclaimed itself "First in Manila, First in Tokyo". He was honorably discharged with the rank of Tech Sergeant.

After the war, Robert worked as a mechanic with Bluff City Ford and his brother, Lawrence Laughlin. From the time of his marriage in 1951 until 1960, he lived in a house on Perkins Drive in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. After developing a severe allergic reaction to grease required him to leave his job as a mechanic, he began farming full-time on the farm he had purchased from his grandmother, to which he had added adjoining land which he had purchased even earlier, giving him a total of approximately 242 acres. He built a brick home on the farm, near the location of his grandparents' barn, which he had removed. During his years as a full-time farmer, he raised corn, milo and soybeans, as well as Black Angus cattle and Yorkshire and Hampshire mixed feeder pigs.

Robert was a founding member of Bethel Chapel Church in rural Butler County, where he served as Sunday School Superintendent.