Obituary of Arnulf Maeland Arnulf Maeland, age 85, resident of Royal Palm Beach, Florida passed away on Thursday, February 7, 2019. Arnulf Julius Maeland was born April 21, 1933 at the family home in Akrehamn, Norway, to Dagny (the town’s bank auditor) and Erling (a preacher) Maeland. He had an older sister, Maalfrid (now deceased) and two adult half brothers, Arne and Kaare by his father’s first marriage.
Arnulf grew up in Norway, including the time it was occupied by the Nazis. He started working at age 15 in various jobs, including fishing off the coast of Iceland and the Merchant Marines. At 19, he headed to New Bedford, Massachusetts to scallop fish and earn money for college.
He also became re-acquainted there with his future wife whom he had known in Norway as a child. Arnulf earned his Bachelor’s from Augsburg University in Minnesota, his Master’s from Tufts University, and his PhD from University of Vermont. During all this, he also managed to get married to Gunhild (Helgesen) and become a father twice over, to Lynn (Tobin) and David.
The family moved to Norway for a year while he did a NATO post-doctoral fellowship. Back in the US, he became a professor at Worcester Polytechnic University in Massachusetts. A third child followed, Kerry (Skara).
In 1975 Arnulf went to work for Allied Chemical in New Jersey (now Honeywell) as a research chemist; his specialty was hydrides. He helped organize the first world conference on hydrogen storage in hydrides in Geilo, Norway in 1978. He worked at Allied until 1990 when he took his first “retirement” and then began consulting, but also landed a recurring role working summers at the Insititutt for Energiteknikk in Lillestrom, Norway.
He and his wife moved to Florida in 1992. At 79, he then “retired” again. But he continued to keep up with physics and chemistry with his colleagues from around the world, although less so after a heart attack and stroke at age 80.
Arnulf has at least 11 patents (either alone or with others), the most recent from 2016. He has co-authored at least 76 publications, mostly in peerreviewed professional research journals. He has co-authored or edited several books.
In addition, he has mentored, worked with and guided numerous graduate students, post-doctoral candidates and colleagues, many of whom kept in touch with him for decades. Arnulf’s research has contributed to the reality of hybrid cars and nickel-metal hydride batteries. But his professional resume is not what Arnulf would consider impressive.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment came as a teenager, when he accepted his role as a sinner and asked Jesus to be his Savior. That guided and shaped his life from then on. His work in science only reinforced his belief and trust in God.
Arnulf enjoyed good conversation, travelling, his wife and daughter-in-law’s cooking (okay, anyone’s cooking), the Red Sox, a silly joke or prank that any first grader would appreciate (the punnier the better), Sudoko, and especially his stamp collection of mostly old Norwegian stamps. He was fluent in Norwegian and English, and passable in several other languages. He enjoyed children very much, and welcomed each new child, grandchild and great-grandchild with much joy, silly faces and noises.
He took them fishing, made up silly nicknames and song snippets, bought them ice cream and hot dogs, gave them candy bars wrapped in several wrapped boxes nested within each other, and rode their Razor scooters. Arnulf was kind, considerate, observant, and quietly enjoyed his life, loved and served his wife and family and his friends, many of whom were colleagues or students of his. He was a bit absent minded, and many of the family’s best and funniest stories revolved around Dad’s forgetting something or doing something goofy.
But mostly, he was always smiling. Always. Because as he once told a cranky granddaughter who didn’t want to vacuum, as he offered her $1 to do it with a smile, “There is always something to smile about”.
Arnulf is survived by his wife of 63 years, Gunhild in Royal Palm Beach, FL; his three children Lynn Maeland Tobin and her husband Rick in Connecticut; David and his wife, Linda in Georgia; Kerry Maeland Skara and her husband Charles in North Carolina. 9 Grandchildren and 2 Great Grandchildren: Lindsey Welch; Samantha Welch and her son Landon; Jessica Welch and her son Angel, all in Connecticut. Rad Welch, in Boston.
Alex Maeland in Hong Kong; Adam Maeland in Cambodia. And Jason, Rachel and Nicole Skara in North Carolina. As well as numerous relatives in the US, Norway and Canada.
His family wishes to thank Hibiscus Palace and Trustbridge for the loving care they gave Arnulf in his last few months. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted into the care of the Lakeside Funeral Home & Cremation Care Family, “Where Every Life is Cherished & Every Family is Treasured” 11347 Okeechobee Blvd, Royal Palm Beach, FL.
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