NORWICH – Renie A. Arts, 89, formerly of Tillman Ave. and Peacock Park Manor, Norwich, passed away Tuesday evening, March 13, 2007 in the Chenango Memorial Hospital.
The son of Michel and Octavia (Bogart) Arts, Renie was born on Sept. 20, 1917, in Forestport. Because his father worked on farms, Renie and his family moved around and had lived in South Otselic, Beaver Meadow, Hamilton, and even New York City. Renie was a career serviceman, having joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II and stayed on as a cook, retiring in 1959 after 20 years. In 1959, Renie and his family moved to Norwich, where he went to work for a short time for the Jamba Farm and as a Pinkerton Guard at the Woods Comers Plant of Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals. He began his second 20-year career in the early 1960s when he went to work as the head chef at Chenango Memorial Hospital, the job from which he retired in the early 1980s. Renie was deeply interested in history, particularly that of the Civil War and of the U.S. Navy. He would hunt and fish a little; and he was extremely proud of his grandchildren.
Renie is survived by his children: Sheila Brewer and husband Carl, and Linda McNeil and husband John, all of Hendersonville, N.C.; James Arts and wife Joanne of Chenango Bridge, and Craig Arts of Norwich; nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren; sisters-in-law: Mary Quinn of Norwich, and Gladys Dawson of Old Saybrook, Conn.; and several nieces and nephews. He was married for many years to Zeila “Midge” Dawson Arts, who predeceased him on Sept. 22, 1986. Also predeceasing Renie were his sister and brother, Simone Fuller and Norbert Arts.
Funeral services for Renie will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday from the R.J. Fahy Funeral Home. The Rev. Douglas Cunningham, pastor of St. Paul’s Church, will officiate. Interment with full military rites will be in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Friends are invited to call at the R.J. Fahy Funeral Home on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.