Robert Ketenheim never tired of volunteering and helping others.

When he and his late wife Theo weren’t buying extra school supplies for children who couldn’t afford them, “he was out delivering Meals on Wheels, at 92, to the folks he called ‘the old people,’ ” said his son, Bob Ketenheim.

Robert C. Ketenheim of Level Green died Thursday, July 25, 2019. He was 92.

Mr. Ketenheim was born Dec. 6, 1926, in Cresson, the son of the late George W. and Eva M. (Teichmann) Ketenheim.

“There were four boys, and the family moved from Philadelphia because their father had tuberculosis,” his son said. “My dad worked for the railroad, and Cresson was one of three or four sanatoriums that the Pennsylvania Railroad built for the state. As long as they could find a place for him near one of these sanatoriums, my father would have a job.”

Mr. Ketenheim worked in the office at the Cresson railroad yard. Once in a while, he would have occasion to talk with a railroad telephone operator. One such operator turned out to be his future wife, Theo P. Meller.

The couple were married Oct. 20, 1948.

Before he could marry the love of his life, however, Mr. Ketenheim had to protect his country, serving as a Navy pilot during World War II.

Assigned to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, one day Mr. Ketenheim met a pilot from Altoona, near his home in Cresson.

“They became friends right away,” Bob Ketenheim said. “The pilot needed another crewman because he didn’t like the one he had. He asked if my dad wanted to fly, and my dad said, ‘Sure.’ ”

Mr. Ketenheim was assigned a patrol unit, flying the U.S. East Coast searching for German submarines.

When he returned from service in 1946, Mr. Ketenheim resumed his work for the railroad, eventually becoming a district chief with the Federal Railroad Administration.

“He was a district chief within Region II of the railroad,” his son said.

Working out of the federal building in Downtown Pittsburgh, Mr. Ketenheim helped oversee rail operations for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the western half of Maryland and part of Ohio, his son said.

In his free time, Mr. Ketenheim enjoyed the outdoors.

“He had a boat, and he was an avid hunter and fisherman,” Bob Ketenheim said. “We’d go down along the Juniata River in Mifflin County, and every once in awhile the family went to Rehoboth Beach. Out this way, he liked Keystone State Park.”

Mr. Ketenheim was a member of the Trafford American Legion Post 331, the Norwin Elks, St. Paul’s/Pitcairn Meals on Wheels and the Level Green Lions. He coached and volunteered with what is now the Trafford Level Green Athletic Association, where two of his daughters played softball.

He also enjoyed spending time in his kitchen.

“Every year until recently, he’d make homemade sauerkraut, root beer, jelly every year from grapes he would grow. And he loved real scrapple,” said his son. “Just within the past couple months, he told me he was going to try and make his own scrapple. Honestly, I’m kind of glad he didn’t because I wouldn’t have wanted to hear him griping if he didn’t like it.”

Mr. Ketenheim is survived by his children, Bob (Patti) of York, Kathy (Bill) and PJ, all of Jacksonville, Fla., and Peggy (Jim) of Hempfield; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at John Dobrinick Funeral Home, 702 Seventh St., Trafford, where an 11 a.m. funeral will be held Wednesday.

Memorial donations can be made to St. Paul’s/Pitcairn Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 76, Pitcairn, PA 15140.

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