Obituary of Harold Klingbeil

Harold Klingbeil was born on August 30, 1919 in Gladbeck, Germany. As a six year old he emigrated to America with his sister Ursula and his mother Elsabeth. As a child, Harold was often in fights - precipitated in part by his accent, fed by his appearance dressed in knickers with a leather rucksack, and made inevitable by an inherent nature (even as a young child) to which backing down from challenges was not an option. Life was hard and money was short. As a teenager, Harold worked after school delivering meat for the local butcher. Weekends, he often hitchhiked or rode his bike from New York City up to Bear Mountain Park. Harold’s work history was diverse. After working for the butcher, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corp (C.C.C.) working in forests in Montana. He worked as a Welder, a Parochial school Social Studies teacher, a Lay Minister, a Vocational Skills counselor and a Social Worker for the City of New York. Harold was married twice. His first marriage in which he had one daughter (Debbie), ended in divorce. Eventually, he remarried (Carolyn) and had five more daughters one of whom (Meagan) died in infancy. An eclectic man, Harold sewed, cooked, made many of his children’s toys, built his vacation home in Warwick, New York, read voraciously, loved walking, loved his dogs, and took his role as his family’s protector as an absolute. He conquered addiction to alcohol. A proud member of AA, their motto “God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference” was a presence in his home. Opposed to Gun control, he was a lifetime member of the NRA. He and Carolyn left New York City in 2002 to move to Colorado, where they lived for three years, and then to New Jersey in 2005. After a brief illness which he fought bravely, he died on August 13th sixteen days short of his 87th birthday. He is survived by his wife Carolyn; his daughters: Debbie, Heidi, Beth, Jane and Gretchen; his son-in-laws: Wayne, Ben, Jack and Tom; his grandchildren: Rachel, Ben, Nick, Rachel, Adam, Ben, Brian, Mathias, Bridget, David, Isaiah and Naomi; and step-grandchildren Willis and Wesley. He was predeceased by his daughter Meagan, his son-in-law Bob, and his sister Ursula. His family wants to extend their heartfelt thanks to the Goshen, N.Y. staff of Good Samaritan Hospital Home Care and New Jersey Hospice.