Bob Arn is a walking encyclopedia, his memory filled with precise information about his life, his native Westerville in the early to mid-20th Century and, especially his flying years during and after World War II.
His vivid memories bring stories about growing up in Westerville; going to Otterbein College; his father, who was a builder; his many flying experiences; starting a local company; a career with large paint companies; and, for sure, a lifetime marriage to a high school sweetheart.
Arn, 91, often shares his stories with groups of young people from schools, Boy Scout troops and Otterbein University that visit his condominium unit just off North State Street. Visitors are often enthralled by his extensive collection of framed photographs and documents and model airplane replicas in well-organized displays in one room.
While Arn’s history and memories focus on the war era, it’s never foremost on his mind.
“My first love was my wife, the second was flying,” Arn says.
Arn graduated from the old Westerville High School in 1940. His father, Frank, volunteer fire department chief from 1920-31, was a builder who put up 65 homes and several larger buildings in the city’s business area and on the Otterbein campus that still stand. On the list are Dunlap King Hall and the Science Center on campus, as well as First Presbyterian Church.
After graduation, Arn enrolled at Otterbein, but the beginning of World War II meant volunteering. He had taken flying lessons and was qualified to fly multi-engine aircraft.
As a youngster, he had been a sea scout in a troop that met at the American Legion Hall at State Street and College Avenue, so he chose the Navy.
“I decided if I’m going to get in this man’s service, I want to fly fighters off the (U.S.S.) Lexington,” Arn says.
He was accepted and assigned to Pensacola, Fla. for officers’ training. But a neck injury sustained as a passenger in an auto accident just before he was to leave ended that. So Arn enlisted in the Civil Air Patrol and, in 10 months, flew 179 missions patrolling for submarines off the coast.
He was advised to take a Naval physical examination. The results didn’t include an X-ray of his healed broken neck, and he was accepted in the Army Air Corps.
Thus began another chapter that included marrying his high school sweetheart Jackie Hay, on her birthday, being stationed at various bases, ferrying aircraft across country and being sent to India to make supply flights over the Himalayas – “the Hump” – to China. Arn carried combat cargo, bombs and gasoline, “slightly volatile loads,” mostly at night.
Jackie, who was living in Memphis, Tenn., returned home to have their first child, Robert E., Jr.
Arn flew 36 different military aircrafts, including one jet. Close encounters included landings with one of two engines out in India and a belly landing after engine failure on a single-engine plane in Texas. He returned home in 1945 and continued flying with the National Guard until 1948.
He returned to Westerville to a home that his father built in a converted garage at Hiawatha and Central avenues. He began working for the Hanna Paint Co. and traveling to hardware and supply stores in a multi-state area. At Hanna, Arn was instrumental in development of Kilrust, a household rust-resistant paint.
One day, Edwin “Dubs” Roush, an old high school buddy, then a school teacher, sought paint brushes for other teachers’ summer painting jobs. During a long social hour, the two struck a deal that led to the opening in 1950 of Arn Roush Hardware at 11 W. College Ave.
The pair split amicably four years later after agreeing their business philosophies didn’t match, and Arn returned to the paint business. His career involved stints with other companies in other cities, too, but Westerville was always home.
When Arn decided to retire in 1974, a neighbor, Cliff Reich, former Ohio State Highway Patrol superintendent and then state liquor director, urged him to take a state job instead. Arn became chief buyer of supplies and equipment, including aircraft, for the patrol and some other agencies.
In 1984, Gov. James A. Rhodes had been succeeded by Richard F. Celeste, and Arn decided to retire after 10 years with a small pension.
“I’m not a politician. I saw some tampering I did not like,” Arn says.
With that, he and Jackie hit the road in a motor home for two years, then in a mobile home park in Central Florida. When she became incurably ill with an arthritic condition in 2002, their daughter, Deborah Segner of Marysville, helped them find and buy the condo where he now lives.
Jackie died in 2006. The Arn family has a large plot in the Otterbein Cemetery, and the tall, confident man goes there daily “to see my wife” of 63 years.
Arn logged over 5,700 military flying hours and over 1,000 as a civilian pilot. Occasionally, he flies with flying clubs from The Ohio State University (Don Scott) Airport and Bolton Field. He is still certified as a pilot, but his physical certification has expired and he doesn’t plan to renew.
Arn has rejoined organizations to which he had once belonged. He is lieutenant commander of the American Legion Young-Budd Post 171 and helps man its informational booth each OhioHealth 4th Friday in Uptown Westerville. The post’s membership is doing well, gaining younger members from recent wars, he says.
“I’m about the only World War II member left,” he says.
He’s a member of the post’s honor guard and presents flags to families at funerals of Westerville veterans, usually in conjunction with Hill or Moreland funeral homes. He also takes part in local parades.
“I used to walk in parades,” he says. “I ride now.”
The VFW lodge to which he belongs meets in the Legion’s College Avenue location. He’s also a 32nd degree Mason, belonging to the Blendon Lodge.
Besides talks in his home, he occasionally speaks to corporate groups and sometimes provides information and insight to Beth Weinhardt, head of the Westerville Public Library’s local history section.
A binder-book he provided the library, entitled simply Arn, is a compilation of thoughts shared with his wife and accounts of their lives.
Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
