Guy Taranto Sr., passed away on Sunday, April 22, 2012, in Fort Smith. He was born July 3, 1922, in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, where he grew up on the Lower East Side. His wife, Kathleen White Taranto; son, Guy Taranto, Jr.; his parents, Eduardo and Raffaele Colavito Taranto; and his brother and sister, Patrick J. Taranto and Rose A. Taranto, all preceded him in death.
He started Unique Cleaners in Fort Smith during the second half of the 1940s, and ran that business for ten years. In the mid-1950s, he began his thirty-year career with Armbruster-Stageway Coachbuilders in Fort Smith, where he oversaw the interior design of luxury stretch limousines. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 996. With his wife Kathleen, he was a co-founder of the Fort Smith Century Club. The couple gave ballroom dancing lessons for forty years in Fort Smith. Two of his hobbies, at which he excelled, were bowling and golf.
From 1942 to 1946 he served in the United States Army. His training program took him to Fort Chaffee, where he met his wife-to-be Kathleen. He was a Sergeant in the 627th Field Artillery Battalion. The US Army attached his unit to the 16th Armored Division, and the division arrived in France in 1945, during World War Two. After a few months in Rennes, the battalion joined the 106th Infantry Division, and moved to the vicinity of Mannheim, Germany, with the assignment of guarding a camp of German prisoners of war. His own main duty was as a "mess" Sergeant, and he managed the logistics of feeding of the POWs. He served for 11 months in the European Theater of Operations, completed his enlistment, and returned to the United States in 1946. He was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, in Fort Smith.
He is survived by his son, Edward Taranto, of Dallas, Texas; and his daughter, Meg Canfield, and her husband, Jerry of Fort Smith. He is also survived by a grandchildren, John Champion "Jesse" Berry; Carole Taranto Cossey, of Canadian, Texas, and Suzanne Taranto Etheredge, of San Antonio, Texas., Meagan Canfield Logan and Randy Canfield both of Fort Smith. He is also survived by seven great grandchildren.
Funeral service will be held at 10 o'clock on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 in the Edwards Funeral Home Chapel with burial to following in Holy Cross Cemetery all under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123; and the Sebastian County Humane Society, P.O. Box 10953, Fort Smith, AR 72917.
To sign an online guestbook visit www.edwardsfuneralhome. com
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