To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Arkansas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arkansas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 10/8/21 • Approved: 10/23/21 • Last Updated: 10/26/21 • R1394527-G1394527-S3
Leslie Ival Arno
STAFF SERGEANT US Marine Corps
October 22, 1924 - November 13, 2016
Dolores Ratkowski Arno
August 20 1925 - August 23, 1996
*Obituary - Leslie Ival Arno
Leslie Ival Arno, age 92, of Hartman, AR, formerly of Wood Dale, IL, passed away on Sunday, November 13, 2016.
He was born on October 22, 1924, in The Forks of Maine, the son of Nathaniel and Clara (Powell) Arno.
Leslie grew up in Madison, ME, where he attended local schools before hearing the call of his country.
He proudly served in the United States Marines. He was an aircraft mechanic and trained many of the troops that went overseas. Leslie was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant and Drill Instructor in 1946.
Dolores Mary Ratkowski was working with U.S.O. when she met the man she would marry. She was an unwitting victim of an errant trolley cable striking her in the nose. And who ended up coming to the rescue with his ever present handkerchief? None other than Leslie Arno, who happened to be her date for the evening. Even though she couldn’t resist a man in uniform, they waited to get married until one month after his discharge, on July 24, 1946. They began their new life together on Meade Avenue in Chicago. In 1956, they moved to Wood Dale with two sons in tow, John and Mark. It wasn’t but a few years later they welcomed home a daughter, Hope, but Gerald made the family complete in 1959.
During this time, Leslie worked for ComEd as a Lineman before retiring thirty years later. The stories of how he survived not only the inclement weather, but also being shot at while working in the boom during the riots in Chicago in 1968, were as thrilling as they were scary. His retirement didn’t last long however, as he and Dolores moved to Arkansas in 1977 to begin another career, this time a Black Angus cattle rancher on eighty acres. After fifty years marriage and millions of happy memories, Dolores passed away on August 23, 1996. Leslie continued to work the ranch for another year, making it an even thirty, before he sold off the cattle and moved into town. Clarksville became his home until Christmas of 2014 when because of declining health, he moved back to Illinois to be closer to his family.
Leslie was a proud member of the Clarksville V.F.W. Post #22 and the Knights of Columbus for many years.
Leslie had a work ethic that was second to none and passed his passion for hard work onto his children. Work meant that there wasn’t a lot of time for him to pursue m any hobbies, but he never slacked when it came to leading and providing for his family. One of Leslie’s favorite times of the year was deer season and he was a crack shot (mostly thanks to his hard scrabble upbringing when a deer during the winter meant there were more than potatoes for dinner). He was an assistant Boy Scout leader when the appointed leader was drafted during the Vietnam War. Several of the local fathers took turns leading the troop in his absence and it wasn’t long before his son John became an Eagle Scout. That tradition continued into the second generation when his grandson, Ryan, achieved the same distinguished honor as well.
He is survived by his three children: Mark Arno and wife, Leslie; Hope Hurt and husband, Dr. Mark; and Gerald Arno and wife, Doris; four grandchildren: Erin Arno, Kelly Golden-Arno and husband, Seth, April Arno and Ryan Arno and wife, Kristin; one brother, Rodney Arno and wife, Lena; several nieces, nephews, many cousins and a family of friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Nathaniel and Clara, he wife of fifty years, Dolores; three siblings: Earl, Roscoe and Roland Arno and one son, John Arno.
A Graveside Service will be held 10:00 a.m., Monday, November 21, 2016, at Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Clarksville, Arkansas with Father William Wewers O.S.B. officiating.
Arrangements are by Hardwicke Funeral Home of Clarksville, Arkansas and Conley Funeral Service of Elburn, Illinois.
Contributed on 10/8/21 by billsully060
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 1394527