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PAWLING, N.Y. – Robert Emmett Kanthak, a resident of Pawling for more than 20 years, died Saturday, July 9. He was 91.
Born May 9, 1925, in Chicago, he was the son of Emil and Cecelia (Maloney) Kanthak.
He grew up in Chicago and worked part time at his father’s bakery, helping make the bread early in the morning before he went to school. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served as a radarman while on the USS Barton, the USS Vincennes and the USS Vicksburg, before being discharged in 1946. While in the Navy, he received eight bronze stars. He met Lois Irene Kime while she was attending the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and living at Bob’s parents’ boarding house. He married her June 26, 1948, in Canton, Ohio.
He worked as a chemist for a rubber products company in Chicago, and later relocated to Indiana. During his time in Indiana, he became a minister and preached in several small towns, including Goblesville, Green Center, Liberty Mills and Roanoke. While continuing to work as a chemist, it was that occupation that brought him and his family to New York in 1967, where he worked at Pawling Rubber. He eventually retired from there and continued preaching in New York. After 33 years, he retired from the ministry.
He is survived by his son Robert Douglas Kanthak and his wife Jane of Spring Hill, Fla.; daughter, Deborah Thomes and her husband John of Pawling; six grandchildren, Sara Guilbeault and her husband Mike of Brookfield, Conn., Robert Kanthak Jr. of Wappingers Falls, Angela Thomes-Klug and her husband Dan of New Hope, Pa., Timothy Kanthak and his wife Michele of Wappingers Falls, Shaun Thomes of Pawling and Thomas Kanthak and his wife Angela, of Poughquag; and 10 great-grandchildren, Brittany and Briana Kanthak, Matthew and Meghan Guilbeault, Claire and Sarah Thomes-Klug, Timothy Kanthak Jr, and Thomas Jr., Salvatore and Sophia Kanthak.
He was predeceased by his wife, Lois; and brother, Herbert Kanthak.
Family and friends may call from 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Horn & Thomas Inc. Funeral Home, 83 E. Main St., Pawling. Hasler-Kamp Post American Legion will conduct a service at 6 p.m. and the Oblong Lodge F & AM will have a service at 6:16 p.m. A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Quaker Hill Cemetery in Pawling.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 75817, Topeka, KS 66675 or the Dutchess County SPCA, 636 Violet Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12538.
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