Emil Senftleben, a blacksmith since boyhood, dies at 93
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Emil Senftleben, 93, of Concord, a retired blacksmith and machinist, World War II veteran, volunteer and family man, died Friday in Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners, where he had been a patient for a week.
Mr. Senftleben was a native Staten Island and lifelong Concord resident.
As a young boy, he learned the blacksmithing trade in his father’s shop, Staten Island Commercial and Body Works, in Concord. He graduated from McKee High School, where he learned to be a machinist, and took a government job in that field.
Mr. Senftleben served in the U.S. Army, assigned to the 745th Engineers, from 1943 to 1946, and saw duty in New Guinea and Luzon in the Philippines. He attained the rank of sergeant. He was a 50-year member of the Patrick J. Dalessio Post, American Legion.
Upon his return from the military, he and his brother-in-law, Bruno Sinicki, took over his father’s business and operated it until 1950. He then became a blacksmith for the city Parks Department, working at Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside. He retired in 1986, after 26 years.
Mr. Stnftleben was a member of the AARP.
He twice drove coast to coast with his family, visited Alaska, and also traveled abroad. Two highlight destinations were Australia and Oberammergau, Germany, where he and his wife, the former Edna Wilhelm, saw the world-famous passion play in 1989.
Mr. Senftleben volunteered as a Boy Scout leader for many years at
Article source: http://www.silive.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2015/11/emil_senftleben_93.html