Funeral service for Kenneth C. Gastgeb, 94, Norman will be 10 am Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at University Lutheran Church with Reverend Joseph Summerville, officiating. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of Primrose Funeral Service.
Family will be receiving friends from 6-8 pm on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at Primrose Funeral Service.
Mr. Gastgeb died November 14, 2014, in Norman.
Mr. Gastgeb was born September 5, 1920 in Kirwan Heights, near Bridgeville, PA. He grew up in Kirwan Heights and attended the Kirwan Grade School and graduated from Bridgeville High School where he played football, basketball and soccer. He also volunteered for the Bridgeville Fire Department. He worked several years in the Steel Mill and then worked for the United States Postal Service as a clerk, Automated Equipment Mechanic, part time Instructor and Maintenance Foreman at the Pittsburgh Post Office. From 1969 until retirement in 1981, he served as Senior Instructor at the Postal Service Technical Training Facility in Norman. He had 35 years of Government Service. Also served as Sunday School Superintendent and on the Church Council at St. John Lutheran Church in Carnegie, PA. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1942 and served with the 345th Bomb Group, Air Apaches. He spent 30 months with the Group in the South West Pacific Area as a Clerk, Switchboard Operator, Teletype Operator and Telephone and Telegraph Linesman. Starting at Port Moresby, New Guinea, the Group served with the 5th Air Force attacking the Japanese War Machine through New Guinea, up through the Phillippines and to Ie Shima in the Ryukyus. The Unit received three Presidential Unit Citations and fought in nine Campaigns. He was Honorably Discharged in October 1945. He served as Vice President and President of the 345th Bomb Group Reunion Association from 1996 to 2000. He helped organize a group of Veterans that had Breakfast together once a month in Norman. He has written two books. One on his childhood, “Kirwan Height Our Home town” and the other “WWII Memoirs.” He enjoyed playing golf and bowling. He has a collection of pictures that he drew using charcoal pencils. He has a large collection of photos and newspaper articles dated back to 1930. Also enjoyed using the computer for various types of projects.
Mr. Gastgeb was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Bertha Gastgeb, brothers Ralph and Raymond and a sister, Florence Nendza.
Mr. Gastgeb is survived by his son, David Gastgeb and wife, Kathy of Newcastle, OK; two daughters: Ruth Ryan and husband, Tim of Red Oak, TX and Debbie Downey and husband, Alfred , Norman; six grandchildren; 7 great grandchildren; and a long time special friend, Bobba Harper.
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