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Retired Sgt. Major Arthur “Art” Kownslar, 79, a man well known to area veterans and the Bastrop community died on Friday, June 8.
A 25-year veteran of the U.S Army, Kownslar served multiple tours during the Vietnam War with Special Forces – the Green Berets. He also served in Okinawa and the Philippines, as well as at military posts in the U.S. He retired as a sergeant major in the Army on Dec. 31, 1976 at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.
“He was a very good man, he was always like a big brother to me,” said Bastrop County Commissioner Willie Piña, also a Vietnam veteran. “Veterans thought highly of him, he was easy to get along with and very helpful to people.”
Kownslar helped initiate the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Bastrop’s Fairview Cemetery in 2001 and was a lifelong member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as being a member of Elgin’s VFW Post 6115.
“Art was one of the trustees at the VFW post,” Piña said. In recent years, Kownslar had been one of the key speakers at the Fairview Memorial Day ceremony as he read the famous World War I poem, “In Flanders Field.” He was also a regular participant in Texas reunions of former Green Beret members, being the president of the Lone Star Chapter of the U. S. Army Special Forces Association in Austin.
His fellow military colleagues and relatives referred to him as
“the personification of the Quiet Professional – a true Green Beret,”
according to a submission by his family.
He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Bastrop for 16 years and
served as an usher. |
He worked as a drug and
alcohol counselor for the Veterans Administration from May 1988 through 1995 after receiving a Master’s Degree in Social Work and Counseling from Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio.
He is survived by his wife, Rachel Kownslar of Bastrop and his sons, Arthur William Kownslar, III (Muldraugh, Ky.), Ernest Andrew Kownslar (Gardner, Mass.), Daniel (Eileen) Kownslar (Rosemount, Minn.) and daughters Katherine (David) Rooker (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Tracy Drayton (Hendersonville, N.C.); his brothers Ron (Debbie) Comte, Charles Kownslar, James Kownslar, and sisters Andrea (Bill) Holmes (Satellite Beach, Fla.) and Gayle Kownslar.
He was predeceased by his father Arthur W. Kownslar Sr., brother David Comte and mother Augusta Comte. Art is also survived by his grandchildren Quentin Kownslar (son of Arthur), Philip and Cherise Kownslar (son and daughter of Daniel), Aubrey, Emily and Natalie Rooker (children of Katherine), Justin, Kristen and Brandon Hirsh (children of Tracy), and great-grandchildren: Hannah, Jhenna and Camm Hirsh, Racheal L.B. and Brandon James Hirsch.
Pallbearers will [sic] be Art Kownslar Jr., Daniel Kownslar, Philip Kownslar, David Rooker and Bill Holmes.
Services were Wednesday, June 13 First Baptist Church in Bastrop. Burial with full military honors was Thursday, June 14 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio.
[The Bastrop Advertiser and County News,
Bastrop, TX, 14 Jun 2012, Thu, Page A2] |
