William Arnold Saul

William Arnold Saul, born October 22, 1934, died at home on September 19, 2025 at 3:14 am. A Celebration of Life will be held at Anderson Life Celebration Center, 360 Commerce Center Drive, Franklin, Ohio on October 12, 1:00-4:00. All family, friends, former students and coworkers at Franklin High School, former colleagues at Mound, and fellow band members are invited to attend. Burial at Pleasant View Cemetery in Bloomville, Ohio will occur on October 14th at 2pm.

Bill has enjoyed the support of his wife Irene (White) and family, which include his three daughters and their families: MaryLynn Saul and Bob Murray (dec.), Kathryn and Michael McGrath, and Amelia and Bruce Presler. Grandkids Kat, Nick, Fiona, Owen, Alex, and Adam enjoyed learning from and bouncing ideas off him. Bill’s world began in Northern Ohio with Charles and Dorothy (Breymaier) Saul (both dec.) and siblings Joseph Saul (dec.) and Sue Schrecongost.

After graduating from Bowling Green State University in 1956, Bill taught instrumental music at three school systems in Ohio. At Franklin, teaching students to love music was the priority, and tonettes were used as early as the fourth grade. Enrollment increased and mentoring continued through high school. Later, he might even be recognized at the local gas station and saluted on an air tonette.

From 1957 to 1959 Bill served in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Knox, Ft. Monmouth, and Camp Casey (Tongduchon) Korea during which he attained the rank of Sergeant. In 1978 he received his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati and worked at Mound Lab for Monsanto and EG&G until retirement in 1992. The highest achievement of his career was participation on the SNAP 27 heat source for the Apollo missions, which is still on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Unwilling to retire, however, Bill then worked for six years at A.M. Kinney Engineers in Cincinnati designing electrical and process control systems for commercial and industrial facilities such as Kennedy Space Center. Within his own household, one could always depend on having the proper lux level at counter height and an electrical outlet right where it was needed.

Throughout his life, interests continued: perfecting photography; studying bridges and architecture; building model airplanes; fixing a pinball machine; relaxing or completing trail work at the cabin; playing bassoon in the university orchestra and Southwestern Ohio Symphonic Band of Middletown, Ohio; challenging himself with Wordle and Solitaire; and, most of all, playing dance band music, classical music, jazz, Sousa marches, or “Somewhere My Love” on the alto saxophone.