Callahan, Arthur Jr.

Description

Arthur Callahan was born in New York in 1924, the son of the Arthur and Ella Sullivan Callahan of Rye, NY. In Rye his family lived at 31 Mead Place and were members of the Church of the Resurrection. Arthur attended Rye schools and was a Rye High School Graduate. He enlisted in 1942 and was a career military man serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Korea and beyond.

Arthur served from 11/4/42 until he retired from U.S. Navy. While in the Navy he served on the historic first transpolar voyage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic via the North Pole aboard the Nautilus. USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives around 250,000 visitors per year.

He married Margaret Gibson in January 1951 at the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, and they would have four sons.

Following his Naval retirement, Art worked at the Electric Boat Company, Groton in Industrial Relations from which he had also retired.

Arthur J. Callahan, Jr. 91, of Groton CT. passed away on Tuesday Feb. 23, 2016 at his home.

At the time of his death, besides his beloved wife, he was survived by his sons William and his wife Beverly of Delaware, Peter and his wife Pamela of Massachusetts, Richard and his wife Linda of North Carolina, two granddaughters, Sydney and Nina Callahan and his sister-in-law Georgeann Gibson of Stamford. Art had also been predeceased by a son Henry, Hank, Callahan.

A Memorial Mass of Christian Burial was held 11 am on Friday March 4, 2016 at the Sacred Heart Church in Groton. His burial with military honors followed in the Colonel Ledyard Cemetery in Groton.