Submitted by: John C. Monk

April 23, 1922 - Jan. 19, 2008
SOUTH BEND - Arthur C. "Art" Bastian, 85, of South Bend, IN, formerly of Chicago, IL, passed away Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. He was the beloved husband of Phyllis (Finland); dearest father of Mary (Deacon Ted) Marszalek, Carol (Steve) Barry and John (Nancy) Bastian; cherished grandfather of Amanda (Drew) Faehnle, Anastasia Fort, Elizabeth, Audrey and Clifford Bastian. A prayer service will be at 9:15 a.m. Monday in the Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner Street, Des Plaines. Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28, in St. Mary Church, 794 Pearson, Des Plaines, IL. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, in the Oehler Funeral Home, where a wake service will be at 7 p.m. Memorials will be gratefully appreciated to St. Rita High School, 7740 S. Western Ave., Chicago IL 60620; or to IIT College of Architecture, S.R. Crown Hall, 3360 S. State St., Chicago, IL 60616. Arthur was a Chicago native, having graduated from St. Philip Neri Grade School, St. Rita High School, and the Illinois Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture. He had the opportunity to study under Mies van der Rohe, and remembered when Frank Lloyd Wright would come over and meet Mies for lunch. After graduation, Arthur served in General George Patton's Third Army in World War II. When someone made fun of his name in basic training, Arthur accidentally broke the guy's arm. At one point, he was declared missing in action. It was decades before Arthur could say what happened. He and other soldiers were crossing a river on a raft, when the Nazis shot at them, killing all but him. Although Arthur did not know how to swim, he was able to hang on to the raft while floating down the river, and later some Army Corps of Engineers rescued him. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" brought out another story. The Nazis were again shooting at them, Arthur warned another soldier to get down, but the soldier was shot and killed and the soldier's twin brother was sent home. Arthur also guarded artwork at Neuschwanstein Castle, and was not allowed to let anyone inside. When an officer said he wanted to see the artwork, Arthur would not let him, so the officer threatened him. The last story Arthur told was that he was ordered to shoot four prisoners of war. Arthur took them out into the forest and freed them. When Arthur was asked why he didn't follow orders, he responded, "Would you have shot them?" Back in Illinois, Frank Lloyd Wright's path crossed with Arthur's once more. Arthur and his partner in a Peoria architecture firm were hired to do an addition to a house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. They did the addition, and then got a letter from an unhappy Frank Lloyd Wright. He did not like their doing an addition to his design. Also, while Arthur worked in Peoria, a man asked him to push a car out of the snow at the then Spaulding Institute, which is now part of Peoria Notre Dame High School. He did, and another man then asked him "Do you know who just asked you to push the car?" He didn't and the person told him, "Bishop Fulton J. Sheen." Back in Chicago, the last firm Arthur worked for, Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, was his favorite. One of the founders, Jerry Loebl, was there when Arthur took his test to become a registered architect. He started working for LSH in 1976 when their famed design, Water Tower Place, opened. When Arthur turned 65, the firm gave him a trip to Stockholm, Sweden. He retired from LSH on his 70th birthday, receiving a Movado watch. Arthur developed familial tremor in his drawing hand in his fifties. He also developed high blood pressure, Type II diabetes that became insulin-dependent, spinal stenosis in the cervical region, and Parkinson's Disease or Parkinsonisms. In 1995 Arthur had a quadruple heart bypass. He went from a walker to a wheelchair. Eleven years later, Arthur broke his hip, and suffered further problems, including an event on August 20, 2006, in which it was expected he would die that night. The long-term acute-care hospital called a priest, Fr. Charlie Schlax, who just happened to be the priest who said the Mass on Arthur's 50th wedding anniversary at the parish where he and his wife Phyllis were married, St. Mary in Des Plaines. Arthur survived but was never able to get back into a wheelchair. He caught one strain of pneumonia last month, then another strain this month, followed by a mild heart attack. Fr. Charlie Schlax will be saying Arthur's funeral Mass.
Published in the South Bend Tribune on 1/22/2008.