Arthur “Art” Schreckengost, Jr., of Lakeland, Florida, died 4/1/23 from natural causes after living 98 eventful years.

Born in Brookville, PA 2/21/1925 to Arthur James and Hazel Schreckengost, he was the youngest of 3 children. In his youth, he was called Cotton due to his bright, blond hair, a nickname he would carry for the rest of his life, but only among relatives.

In 1943, shortly after finishing high school, he was drafted into the U.S. Army for WWII.

Initially trained to be a topographer he was reassigned to infantry and sent to England. On June 6, 1944 he boarded a ship and soon found himself on Utah Beach at Normandy, France along with thousands of his fellow allied soldiers. That battle, the largest invasion force ever, would be called D-Day.

Having successfully entered Europe he continued on to help liberate Paris in August, 1944. In December, 1944 he was captured by German forces in Luxembourg at the Battle of the Bulge. He would spend the next 6 months as a German POW stationed, eventually, in Berlin which, as he would later claim, was not a healthy place to be in 1945 due to constant allied bombing of the city.

For his service, he would be awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star along with the Army of Occupation Medal. Due to Army paperwork snafus, Art did not receive his POW Medal or official promotion to sergeant until the late 1980s.

After being discharged in late 1945, he then went on to Penn State where he graduated in 1950 with an engineering degree. Having worked with PPG and TRW, he would start his own company in 1961, Ultra Labs, Inc in Cleveland, Ohio (still in operation, with new owners).

He would meet and marry Elizabeth Deutsch in 1959 and they welcomed a son, Arthur T in 1960.

In 1970 he retired and moved to Lakeland, Florida and would spend the next 3 decades traveling around the world and the U.S. with his wife. Both were also active with the VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, American Ex-Prisoners of War and various other groups.

Elizabeth died in 2000 and he would spend his remaining years playing golf, mastering the video poker slots at various casinos, and playing penny-ante poker games whenever he could.

Art was on the first Honor Flight that departed from Lakeland Linder Airport to Washington, DC on November 12, 2013. There he was finally able to visit the WWII Museum.

Neighbors will remember Art as the kindly old gentlemen who rode around the neighborhood on his scooter talking to squirrels (not sure if they talked back) and making friends with the dogs and people he met along the way. He could frequently be heard singing, “Ringy Dingy, Doo” a song by Geof Johnson (unfortunately, he knew just those 3 words).

Arthur is survived by his sons Arthur T (Phyllis) of Lakeland and William Robinson (Shirley) of Bayview, Ohio, 2 grandsons, 1 great-grandson and various nieces and nephews.

He was pre-deceased by his parents, sisters and wife.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Good Shepherd Hospice of Lakeland. Without their assistance, his final days would have been much worse.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/arthur-schreckengost/obituary/

Copy