In July, 2007, the Stewart Family, Cape May Whale Watcher, Miss Chris Marina, Back Harbor Marine, Inc, Cape May Charters, North Wildwood, Cape May County, New Jersey, and the whole world, lost one of its greatest men, Robert A. Stewart. He missed his 90th Birthday, by one week.

This webpage will be a tribute to Robert A. Stewart. Whether he was known as Pop-pop, Dad, Arny, or Admiral Arn he was an integral part of what made this whole family work.

Born, July 15, 1917, Robert Arnold Stewart, in Garden City, PA. Robert enjoyed a great many things growing up. He hunted every morning on the way to school. Rabbits and squirrels mostly. The beauty of growing up in a primarily farming community. The janitor would store his gun for him while he was in class. Arnold fancied himself as a ball player. He enjoyed being a pitcher. He threw a mean fastball, once clocked at around 23 mph. He loved nature. He loved reading quite a bit. He read for most of his life. he could devour books.

When he met Elizabeth Holman, they were meant for each other. They enjoyed a great many things, including going out dancing. In his day, Arnold could cut quite a rug with Elizabeth. They married in 1942.

Arnold took up an apprenticeship with Sun Ship, as a pattern maker. He achieved the status of pattern maker and continued with this job til Sun ship closed their doors. He was a master at his craft. He was not a carpenter. He was no such blunt instrument. Instead, Arny, was a fine tuned mechanical drawing, reading, calculating, feeling, checking, weighing, chiseling pattern maker. From a drawing, arny could achieve any shape or form out of wood in any scale or to full size, to within 1/1000 of an inch. All this was acheived without lasers, computers, hard drives, memory, or in many cases even electricity. Many of the patterns were made using very specific hand tools. The patterns he made were used in various projects at Sun Ship, everything from valves to steam turbine pieces, to various ship parts such as stringers, rudders, and struts. All to be cast out of bronze, iron, steel, and other materials.

Arny was also a pilot through much of his early life. He enjoyed flights up in his piper cub. He once flew over the Washington Monument, and took a picture looking down at it. He longed to fly for the airforce in World War II. However, his eyesigt prevented him from ever leaving his home soil. He did however join up with the Civil Air Patrol, a group of pilots who were paid to keep a look out for German U-Boats. While Arny never did find any, he did enjoy the beauty and wonder of flight. I woudl guess it was one of his great passions in life.

Arnold and Elizabeth had two sons, first Bob, and then Jeff. Arnold remained a pattern maker right up through the closing of Sunship. Eleizabeth worked at Interboro School system, up into the 1990's. When Sunship closed Arnold found himself without a job and a family to help support. He appiled for a job with Cava Industries. The add requested a carpenter. Arnold needed work so he applied. Mr. Cava turned out to be a rather interesting reclusive millionaire of sorts. Cava Industries was his pet project and did many dfferent things. Not the least of which was attempting to build boats. Arnold, with his vast knowledge of pattern making and having had much experience with boating, quickly foudn a new home with Cava Industries.

Mr. Cava bid on many porjects for the military. So Arny found himself building a plethera of patterns, both small scale and full scale. Engine parts, Jeep Parts, turbines, helicopters, and when he wasnt doing that, Cava was trying to develop a boat line called Cava Craft. As the new Ideas kept coming, new patterns, as well as small scale models were ordered and Arny built them with great pride and accuracy. Anything Arnold requested, Mr. Cava got. New tools, better wood, better epoxies, better varnish. Mr. Cava spared no expense.

Arnold and Elizabeth lived in Elizabeths families house in 1183 E. 9th St. Eddystone, PA, which the family left to Elizabeth and Arnold. Arnolds first real boat was an 18ft Lyman Islander named the Liz. He kept it in Chester Creek. He and his wife also had a house built on 2nd Ave, North Wildwood, NJ. They had several boats over the years including a couple of prams, a pop-craft, a chris craft, a baja, and a shamrock.

When Cava Industries went out of business, with the passing of Mr. Cava, the entire wood working department, was left in the will to Arny. Tons of machinery and wood, were now Arny's. Like a surreal dream, Arny with the aid of his sons, transported the bulk of it to their house in Eddystone, into the garage and the basement. The remainder was sold off, due to there not being enough space for it all.

Arnold then went to work for Boeing for a time. He once again used his skills as a pattern maker to aid in the construction of parts for helicopters. Arny aided in the production of rotors.

When Arny retired, he did quite a bit of reading. However, retiered life didnt seem to satisfy him. He decided to continue his calling by making patterns from his basement. He did this for a great many years. He enjoyed working from home and the extra money was always helpful, when he was actually paid. Arny, in his usual peaceful manner, would let anyone slide on payments. Money, never was all that important to him in his later years. Since he never had a great some of money, he had little use for it.

Like a fine tuned instrument, Arny liked to keep himself sharp. Like anything, without practice, perfection is lost. Arnold took on many private projects to keep himself perfect. He made, several decoys, ship hull patterns, grandfather clocks, grandmother clocks, furniture, etc. He enjoyed making boxes that you could not see the seems of to see how it was put together. He last projects seemed preoccupied with making a perceft ring out of wood, a daunting task even for the most seasoned pattern maker. Arny also did quite a bit of work on the boats over the years creating hatches and doors for several of the families boats as well as friends, including an investor that would later help his son Jeffrey go into business.

The most memorable thing about Arny, that I will carry with me always was his amazing memory. He could remember everything in his life down to how much he paid for a hamburger when he was 17. Details were his middle name. He could remember what kind of clothes he wore to a dance with my grandmother, or what she ate for dinner three nights ago. Nothing phased Arny.

As the years rolled on, the need for bonified pattern maker greatly diminished. Computers and CNC Routers have become the norm, and the craft has all but vanished. As Arnys eyesight got increasingly worse, he slowly watched his own perfection drain away in his early 80's The remaining years were hard for a man who so loved to use his eyes. Eventually, even reading became impossible for the peaceful, loving Robert A. Stewart. When he passed away, an era died with him. The age of industrialism. The age of forging a future, with your own two hands.

Robert A. Stewart embodied a more simple view of the American Dream, than all the BS that we all think it means today. He wasnt a democrat, or a republican. He was a man who loved a woman. He was a man who raised a family. He was a man who loved nature, and birds, and fish. He was a private pilot who enjoyed the freedom of flight. He was a man who strived for nothing short of perfection and whose highest level of grief was acheived when someone would mistakenly damage one of his patterns. He was a man who turned off the TV, and read and read and read some more about everything from shipwrecks, to divers, to flying, to world travelers, spies, government. You name it, Arny read it. Robert A. Stewart and many others like him are the men who made this country what it is today. I thank God that we had men like this to get us here. I can only pray to think what this world will be like without them. I can only hope, that men among us can demonstrate similar qualities, in stark contrast to the status quo. I look within myself and wonder, do I have what it takes to endure as he that has gone before me... Only time, not myself, can answer this. Only time holds the answers to all questions...