Arthur L. Bickmeyer

Surrounded by family, Arthur Lincoln Bickmeyer passed away at the grand old age of 98 on Sunday, September 20, 2026 at Sunrise of Vienna in Virginia.

Art will be dearly missed by his loving wife of 72 years Lillian R. Bauer Bickmeyer; his four lucky daughters and sons-in-law, Nancy and Ed Van Blargan, Carol and Byron Vranas, Jean Marie and Donald McDougall and Mary Grace and Steven Crespy; his eleven adoring grandchildren and their significant others Nicholas Arthur and wife Kimberly, Jessica and husband Hector, Kristen, Laura and husband Sam, Elizabeth and husband Steven, Caroline, Colleen, Gracie and partner Austin, Sheila, Thomas Arthur and fiancé Caroline, and Michael and partner Madison; and his six cherished great grandchildren Lia,  Ryan, Caleb, Oliver Arthur, Fiona and Simon. (Notice all the Arthurs?)

Because he lived for almost a century, he was preceded in death by many dear relatives and friends.

Art was born on June 5,1928 in Woodside, New York to Arthur Lincoln Bickmeyer Sr. and his wife Elizabeth Pryal Bickmeyer. He prowled the streets of Queens as a youngster, playing sandlot baseball and stick ball, sneaking into movie theaters and in his own words terrorizing his little sister Nancy with frogs he caught in the marsh where La Guardia airport is now. His mother bribed him to practice piano. The nuns at his grammar school (where he won the geography award) noticed his intelligence despite his mediocre grades and urged him to test for admission to Bishop Laughlin High School in Brooklyn. He attended Fordham University in the Bronx for a year and after the untimely death of his father, moved to his mother’s small hometown of Archbald Pennsylvania (where scads of cousins lived) continuing his studies at the University of Scranton earning a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy.

He met his future bride Lillian when she was the nursing school roommate of his sister Nancy at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village. They corresponded (via so many airmail letters) when he was stationed in Germany after being drafted during the Korean War. Because he read the newspapers between training exercises, his wartime duties as a private included briefing the officers on current events. One of the happiest moments of his life was catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor after a hurricane riddled, gut-wrenching crossing of the Atlantic following his army stint. After that he never boarded a cruise ship, preferring the newer option of air travel.

Art and Lillian married in 1954 when Art was working at Pan American Airlines in route planning (a perfect job for a geography buff) in New York City where he also attended night school at NYU earning his MBA. Daughters soon filled their row home in Flushing and Eastern Airlines offered a job in Washington so the Bickmeyers relocated to Bowie, Maryland in 1967, living there for 33 years.

Generous airline benefits allowed Art and Lil and their daughters to travel stand-by, as long as they were properly dressed, to many glorious vacations during which Art quizzed the kids on state capitals as they waited in airport lounges. After retiring from Eastern, Art started a successful consulting business advising regional airports.

Art was an avid baseball fan. His own father was a semi-pro player and took his young son to see Babe Ruth play, one of little Arthur’s earliest memories. It was a treat to watch a game with Art as he keenly analyzed the pitching patterns and roster strengths of each team.

Art hit the links too. He learned golf as a teen working as a starter at Kissena Park Golf Course in Queens. Art rooted for future hall-of-famer Tom Kite after they played a round together before the Doral-Eastern Open in the 70s.

When he turned 40, Art quit smoking, took up jogging, encouraged his daughters to run track, and helped run a local annual track and field event, the Bowie Olympics. More recently he encouraged his daughters to walk as running caused him hip injuries. Even with an achy hip, he was always up for some tennis doubles and played regularly into his mid 80s. He and Lil also took up cycling midlife, cruising on rail trails in the mid-Atlantic, Florida and Europe.

Art and Lil were snowbirds in North Fort Myers for 20 years, where they learned that you can make friends later in life. They made even more friends during the 25 years they lived in Gainesville, Virginia. More recently they moved to an assisted living community where Lillian could get the care she required and where Art killed it at Trivia Nights.

Art was a devoted Catholic. He was an altar boy, received six of the seven sacraments, served as a lector at St. Pius X in Bowie and prayed the rosary with Lillian and the girls on Wednesday nights. Even though he always had a mug getting frosty in the freezer, he sometimes gave up beer for Lent.

Despite living more than half his life in Maryland and Virginia, Art always had a New York accent. He was an objectively handsome guy, once being mistaken for Robert Redford who was staying in the same hotel. He had blue eyes, a resonant voice and laughed easily. Thanks to the well-timed bribes of his mother to practice when he was a child, Art played piano (for free) at parties, entertaining his family and friends for decades.

Arthur’s was a life well lived and full of love.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to your favorite charity in Arthur’s name.