Bengt Carl Weisshuhn

Bengt Carl Weisshuhn, age 88, passed on peacefully in his sleep on September 18, 2025. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 49 years, Erika Weisshuhn, son Bengt Weisshuhn Jr. of Eastham, daughter Birgit Weisshuhn of Brewster and his sister Karin Weisshuhn of Salzburg Austria. Bengt adored his grandchildren and was the doting Opa to Finnigan and Holden Conlin.

After his 31 year career with Lufthansa German Airlines, he retired to Eastham where he lived for 27 years. This was by far the longest he had lived in one place during his eventful life.

Bengt enjoyed his volunteer work for EFFI (Eastham’s Famous Flower Islands), and driving patients to their medical appointments. He was also a member of the Cape Cod Salties, and the Orleans Men’s Coffee Club.

Being an avid reader, his time as a volunteer at the Eastham Public Library and as a board member of the Friends of the Library meant the world to him. For 20 years, he worked every Friday afternoon at the desk, helping patrons with their book needs, making recommendations, but also cracking jokes with the staff and patrons.

On the Cape, Bengt also followed his passion for fishing in the many ponds and the ocean.Together with his wife, he enjoyed traveling to different places around the globe.

Bengt came from a family of paper factory owners in Sudetenland, then a part of Czechoslovakia. His father Felix Weisshuhn, and his mother Ilse Weisshuhn nee Feix, were born under the Austro Hungarian Monarchy, which made them Austrians. In 1936 his father got a job at the Baltic Cellulose Papermill near Riga, Latvia where the family lived for three years. Bengt Carl Weisshuhn was born on July 9th, 1937 in Sloka near Riga. In 1940, after World War II broke out, the family returned to their home in Freiheit (now Svoboda Nad Upou) in Sudetenland, where they lived until 1945. With the expulsion of Germans from Sudetenland, Bengt, his mother and sister fled from Czechoslovakia. They found refuge in a small Bavarian village called Berg which was in the US occupied zone of Germany. In 1946, the US Government determined that the family were Austrian citizens and they were sent to live in Austria where Bengt spent his childhood years.

In 1952 Bengt’s father accepted a position as director of a paper factory in Caieras, Brazil,where the family lived for the next four years. Bengt graduated from High School in São Paulo in 1955. The next year, Bengt was sent to Tyrone, PA where he was offered an education and job at a paper mill.

In 1957, Bengt enrolled at Syracuse University to study forestry, but he decided it was not for him. He then transferred to Boston University and graduated Class of 1962 with a degree in Public Relations and Communications. He was a member of the Student Council, and Photo Editor for the BU News. For the next three years he worked for Channel 7 WNAC TV and shortly for British Airways and Air Lingus Irish Airlines.

On February 10th, 1966 Bengt began his career with Lufthansa German Airlines at Logan International Airport in Boston. It was there that he met the love of his life Erika, and they settled together in Marblehead, MA where they got married. Their son Bengt Jr. was born in Salem, MA in 1976. That same year, Bengt was promoted to Station Manager at Anchorage International Airport. The family lived in Anchorage, AK for the next 8 years. Their daughter Birgit was born in 1979. The family spent happy years in Alaska enjoying the beautiful outdoors, camping, fishing and hiking in the summer, and skiing during the long winters. Bengt also enjoyed hunting in the wilderness of Alaska. Vacationing in Fiji and Hawaii and visiting family in Germany, Austria and Switzerland enriched their lives.

In the fall of 1984, Bengt was sent to work in La Paz, Bolivia and in early 1985 to Oslo, Norway.

Bengt was then tasked with opening the Lufthansa Station at Houston International Airport in May of 1985, and the family moved to Kingwood, TX for the next three years.

In 1988 Bengt was transferred back to Boston where he was manager of Lufthansa at Logan International Airport. The family settled again in Marblehead, MA. At the end of his 31 year career with Lufthansa, he retired in 1997 and a year later he and Erika moved to Eastham on Cape Cod.

In his lifetime Bengt held four citizenships, Czechoslovakian, German, Austrian and the United States. His life is a part of much forgotten postwar European history.

Bengt, with his outgoing personality, formed many long lasting friendships. He will be missed by all who knew him.

The funeral will be held in private. A celebration of Bengt’s life will be announced at a later date.

Donations in his name can be made to the Alzheimer’s Family Support Center in Brewster, MA.