Robert J. Kaelin of Riverhead died April 26, 2020. He was 85 years old, having been born at home in Southold on Aug. 11, 1934, the son of Riverhead natives George H. and Grace (Nugent) Kaelin.
Known either as Bob or by his nickname (since childhood) of “Duck,” he was a 1952 graduate of Southold High School. He attended Villanova University for three years and the Charles Morris Price School (of the Poor Richard Club) and worked as a copywriter in the Philadelphia area before enlisting in the Army in 1956. He was a graduate of the Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Md., as well as the Army Language School at Monterey, Calif., and served for two years as an agent of the 66th CIC in Offenbach and Frankfurt am Main, Germany. While there, he was the only American member of the Frankfurt Flying Club, where he made several lifelong friendships.
Following his military service, he returned to the East End and worked as a technical writer and editor for Grumman for 11 years. He left to join a newly formed John Deere farm machinery dealership in 1973 and remained in the employ of that agency for the next 40 years. He was a lifelong practicing Catholic and a member of St. Isidore Parish in Polish Town since 1961.
He was probably best known for his 1930s-era light airplanes, which included a 1936 Aeronca that he restored and flew during the 1960s, followed by a 1938 Taylorcraft, which he flew for 20 years after that. He was a member of the Railroad Museum of Long Island, the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society and the Long Island Antique Power Association, working on the repair and restoration of old gas and oil engines for many fellow club members. Among the recent projects was the very same old orchard sprayer engine that he had previously repaired 60 years before, when he was still a teenager in high school.
In later years, he also participated in the restoration of Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold as well as the 1927 LIRR caboose in Greenport.
He never married and was predeceased by a sister and a brother. Several cousins, six nieces and one nephew survive.
Private burial will be held at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Southold. Arrangements were entrusted to McLaughlin Heppner Funeral Home in Riverhead.
This is a paid notice.
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