Reinhold Arendt

Reinhold Arendt of Tacoma, WA passed away peacefully at his home on April 18, 2025. He was born on October 22, 1936, to Heinrich and Leonide Arendt in the town of Neu Gruental, a German colony of farmers in the province of Wolhynian, Ukraine. He was the 13th of 14 children born to the family who endured many hardships under the communist system and during WWII. They lost their home due to the fighting and survived by living and working on a German construction train supporting the war effort for a year and a half. Reinhold avoided being strafed, crushed by train cars, and was nearly lost to the family once when their train started to depart without him. As the war came to a close, they settled in Schleswig Holstein, Germany where they worked on a farm and other jobs. They were declared "displaced persons" by the German Government, and with the help of a wealthy German family, the Lutheran Church, and the US government, they came to America in January 1952.

The family traveled to Roy, WA to work on their sponsor's farm, then to a farm near Lacey, WA, before settling in Tacoma. Reinhold attended Lincoln High School, but had to leave early in order to support the family. He worked at the Continental Bakery Co., Brown and Haley, and Pacific Match Co., In 1958 he became a naturalized citizen, and in 1959 enlisted in the US Air Force. In the air force, he served as an aircraft mechanic. While stationed in Ohio, he married Janice Marshall. After being discharged, Reinhold and his family returned to Tacoma in 1964, where he first worked at Boeing and then learned to weld from a neighbor who also helped him get a construction job on the new interstate project. He became a union pipefitter and worked numerous projects across Western Washington for over 30 years until retirement in 1998. In his free time, he used his considerable construction skills and strong work ethic to completely remodel his two homes.

Reinhold led an active, adventurous life. He enjoyed water skiing, snow skiing, ice skating, roller skating, swimming, and hiking. He learned to scuba dive and in one afternoon climbed 10,000 feet to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier with no special gear, only his street clothes, just because it was there. He liked to travel and traversed the continent five times towing an RV trailer with his beloved 1969 GMC truck to visit relatives and see the sites of America. He never remarried after his divorce. He was a private person but was always kind to people. He was a man of strong moral convictions who loved the Lord and had compassion for his fellow man. His neighbors all remember his warm, friendly nature and willingness to lend a hand. He relished visits with family to expound on the family history while sharing a pot of his favorite meal, borscht. He had a clever sense of humor and often used it to impart the lessons he had learned to anyone who would listen.

Preceded in death by his parents, brothers Oswald, Oskar, Robert, and sisters Erika, Frieda, Olga, and Elsa He is survived by son Mark (Lorie), granddaughters Leslie, Harmony, Gemma, Rue, and Abiah, of South Charleston, OH, nieces Eda (George) Kammerzell of Puyallup, WA, Ruth Moriaux of Dauphin, Manitoba, Diana Behlers of Norfolk, NE, Anita Gloe of Bakersfield, CA, Edith Gloe of Santa Cruz, CA, Rachel Pacha (Mark) of Omaha, NE; nephews Kurt Gillies of Concord, NH, Richard Lemp (Christina) of Gig Harbor, WA, Rudie Arendt of Knoxville, TN, Leo Ruff of Dauphin, Manitoba, and many more extended family throughout the United States and Canada.