Obituary for Philip Charles Reisenleiter
Philip Charles Reisenleiter joined his grandmother, Nonnie (Rose Gayle Rohn), in heaven on February 4, 2023. Phil was born on December 26, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri to Charles Maurice Reisenleiter and Goldie Rose Rohn. But it was his grandmother, Nonnie, who had the most significant influence on Phil’s early years. He learned from her the importance of being a grandparent and the positive impact that a grandparent can have on a child’s life. It is no coincidence that he would later become the most incredible grandfather a child could ever wish for.
Phil spent the first sixteen years of his life growing up in the Northwoods neighborhood of Northwest St. Louis. He attended Normandy High School, but dropped out at the end of his sophomore year and joined the Marine Corps on May 28, 1958 when he was just 16-years-old. After completing basic training, Phil was assigned to 29 Palms, California as an artilleryman on the 8-inch self-propelled howitzer. In the summer of 1961, after completing his three-year enlistment and attaining his GED, Phil applied for admission to Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. He attended SMS from August 8, 1961 – June 5, 1965, and graduated with an education degree, a lifetime membership to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and a girlfriend, Mary Schneider, whom he would marry upon graduation in August 1965. In January of 1966, the newlyweds left Springfield to tackle their first teaching jobs at the only high school in Steeleville, MO. Phil taught history but quickly realized teaching was not his life’s passion and when the school year was finished, they returned to Springfield where he spent the next two years working in pharmaceutical sales with Johnson & Johnson and later with the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services (Welfare Office). While working for the Welfare Office, Phil learned of a program that would pay for a two-year Master of Social Work (MSW) at Missouri University followed by mandatory service with the state. After being accepted, Phil began the MSW program in Columbia, MO in the fall of 1969. However, at the end of the first year, the state stopped funding that program and Phil found himself without a way to pay for his second year. Luckily, he soon discovered that the Army had a similar program and would pay for the second year of his MSW degree if he committed to four years of service in the Army upon graduation. Phil thought, “I was a Marine, so this Army stuff should be a piece of cake.” He graduated from Missouri University in the summer of 1971 with his MSW degree and was commissioned as a Captain into the U.S. Army on July 4, 1971.
His first assignment was as a Social Work Officer at the Ft. Devens Medical Activity in Devens, Massachusetts, a small-town northwest of Boston. At Ft. Devens, he served as the Officer in Charge of the Devens House, the post alcohol rehabilitation center. While at Ft. Devens, he was selected for advanced training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD where he completed the 6-month Alcohol Counselor Training Course. In July of 1973, Phil and his family were reassigned to Nuremberg, Germany where Phil would serve as the Chief of the Army Community Service Division managing 16 different ACS centers across the region. In July of 1974, Phil joined the neuropsychiatry staff at the 130th General Hospital where he played a significant role in the Nuremberg Foster Home Placement Association and the Child Abuse Board. By 1976, the Army decided that Phil was ready for advanced training. So, in December of that year, he and his family packed up and moved to San Antonio, Texas so he could attend the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Advanced Course at Ft. Sam Houston. After completion of that course, Phil was assigned to an instructor position for the Behavioral Science Specialist Course at the AMEDD Center and School on Ft. Sam. In February of 1981, newly promoted Major Reisenleiter and family were reassigned to Indianapolis, Indiana and eventually moved into officer’s quarters on Ft. Benjamin Harrison. His first job at Ft Ben was as Chief of Community Mental Health at the clinic where he and his staff provided counseling and therapeutic treatment to all Soldiers across every unit on post. He served in that capacity until 1984 and was then transferred to the position of Army Community Service Course Director responsible for directing and teaching ACS training world-wide. After five years at Ft. Ben, the Army decided it was time for Phil to be reassigned to the Chief of Social Work Services at Moncrief Army Community Hospital at Ft Jackson. So, in December 1986, newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Reisenleiter and family moved to Columbia, South Carolina where Phil supervised a team of 6 Behavioral Health Specialists and junior Social Work Officers providing mental health counseling to over 40,000 basic trainees and Soldiers across the entire post. In early 1991, the Army wanted to send Phil to a key assignment in Korea but given the fact that his daughter was entering her senior year in high school, Phil declined the position and on 31 August 1991 he officially retired from the Army after 20 years of honorable service. Upon retirement from the Army, Phil completed a very short stint as a Social Worker at the Department of Corrections in Columbia but left that job after less than a year to take a position at Lutheran Family Services (LFS) of the Carolinas. Phil would eventually serve as Vice President in charge of the Child and Family Services Division placing orphaned and abandoned children in both foster care and group homes throughout North and South Carolina. Phil worked for Lutheran Family Services from 1992-2001.
By 2001, after 30 years spent living away from his home state and family, Phil and Mary returned to Missouri to a farm they had purchased in Collins. Over the next 22 years of his life, Phil experienced: farm life, divorce, more than 50 visits from his kids and their families, snow birding in both San Antonio and Fairfax, VA, one unforgettably hilarious cruise, trips to Indianapolis, losing several of his best friends, a handful of his own serious health battles, and becoming a grandfather seven times over.
Phil loved: animals, telling a good story even if it was almost entirely fictional, red trucks, basking in any win no matter how small, diet coke, alone time, mashed potatoes, old people and the stories they shared. Phil hated: exercise, drinking water, spending money, abuse of his equipment, leaving a door open, ethnic food of any kind, and anyone that could not laugh at themselves.
Phil is survived by his sister Marilyn Daily; son Eric Reisenleiter and daughter-in-law Lisa Reisenleiter; his daughter Jennifer Danko and son-in-law Tony Danko; grandchildren, Maris Reisenleiter, Ali Allouche, Myriam Allouche, Silas Allouche, Jill Danko, Anthony Danko, and Alessandro Danko; and his dogs Yadi and Louie.
The evening before he passed, his children, Eric and Jennifer, asked him who he was most looking forward to seeing when he got to heaven and, without a moment’s hesitation, he responded with, “Nonnie. I am looking forward to seeing my grandmother, Nonnie.” Eric and Jennifer take comfort in knowing that he is with Nonnie right now; his first and lifelong love.
Permanent online condolences, stories and photos may be shared at www.hhlohmeyer.com
Phil spent the first sixteen years of his life growing up in the Northwoods neighborhood of Northwest St. Louis. He attended Normandy High School, but dropped out at the end of his sophomore year and joined the Marine Corps on May 28, 1958 when he was just 16-years-old. After completing basic training, Phil was assigned to 29 Palms, California as an artilleryman on the 8-inch self-propelled howitzer. In the summer of 1961, after completing his three-year enlistment and attaining his GED, Phil applied for admission to Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. He attended SMS from August 8, 1961 – June 5, 1965, and graduated with an education degree, a lifetime membership to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and a girlfriend, Mary Schneider, whom he would marry upon graduation in August 1965. In January of 1966, the newlyweds left Springfield to tackle their first teaching jobs at the only high school in Steeleville, MO. Phil taught history but quickly realized teaching was not his life’s passion and when the school year was finished, they returned to Springfield where he spent the next two years working in pharmaceutical sales with Johnson & Johnson and later with the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services (Welfare Office). While working for the Welfare Office, Phil learned of a program that would pay for a two-year Master of Social Work (MSW) at Missouri University followed by mandatory service with the state. After being accepted, Phil began the MSW program in Columbia, MO in the fall of 1969. However, at the end of the first year, the state stopped funding that program and Phil found himself without a way to pay for his second year. Luckily, he soon discovered that the Army had a similar program and would pay for the second year of his MSW degree if he committed to four years of service in the Army upon graduation. Phil thought, “I was a Marine, so this Army stuff should be a piece of cake.” He graduated from Missouri University in the summer of 1971 with his MSW degree and was commissioned as a Captain into the U.S. Army on July 4, 1971.
His first assignment was as a Social Work Officer at the Ft. Devens Medical Activity in Devens, Massachusetts, a small-town northwest of Boston. At Ft. Devens, he served as the Officer in Charge of the Devens House, the post alcohol rehabilitation center. While at Ft. Devens, he was selected for advanced training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD where he completed the 6-month Alcohol Counselor Training Course. In July of 1973, Phil and his family were reassigned to Nuremberg, Germany where Phil would serve as the Chief of the Army Community Service Division managing 16 different ACS centers across the region. In July of 1974, Phil joined the neuropsychiatry staff at the 130th General Hospital where he played a significant role in the Nuremberg Foster Home Placement Association and the Child Abuse Board. By 1976, the Army decided that Phil was ready for advanced training. So, in December of that year, he and his family packed up and moved to San Antonio, Texas so he could attend the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Advanced Course at Ft. Sam Houston. After completion of that course, Phil was assigned to an instructor position for the Behavioral Science Specialist Course at the AMEDD Center and School on Ft. Sam. In February of 1981, newly promoted Major Reisenleiter and family were reassigned to Indianapolis, Indiana and eventually moved into officer’s quarters on Ft. Benjamin Harrison. His first job at Ft Ben was as Chief of Community Mental Health at the clinic where he and his staff provided counseling and therapeutic treatment to all Soldiers across every unit on post. He served in that capacity until 1984 and was then transferred to the position of Army Community Service Course Director responsible for directing and teaching ACS training world-wide. After five years at Ft. Ben, the Army decided it was time for Phil to be reassigned to the Chief of Social Work Services at Moncrief Army Community Hospital at Ft Jackson. So, in December 1986, newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Reisenleiter and family moved to Columbia, South Carolina where Phil supervised a team of 6 Behavioral Health Specialists and junior Social Work Officers providing mental health counseling to over 40,000 basic trainees and Soldiers across the entire post. In early 1991, the Army wanted to send Phil to a key assignment in Korea but given the fact that his daughter was entering her senior year in high school, Phil declined the position and on 31 August 1991 he officially retired from the Army after 20 years of honorable service. Upon retirement from the Army, Phil completed a very short stint as a Social Worker at the Department of Corrections in Columbia but left that job after less than a year to take a position at Lutheran Family Services (LFS) of the Carolinas. Phil would eventually serve as Vice President in charge of the Child and Family Services Division placing orphaned and abandoned children in both foster care and group homes throughout North and South Carolina. Phil worked for Lutheran Family Services from 1992-2001.
By 2001, after 30 years spent living away from his home state and family, Phil and Mary returned to Missouri to a farm they had purchased in Collins. Over the next 22 years of his life, Phil experienced: farm life, divorce, more than 50 visits from his kids and their families, snow birding in both San Antonio and Fairfax, VA, one unforgettably hilarious cruise, trips to Indianapolis, losing several of his best friends, a handful of his own serious health battles, and becoming a grandfather seven times over.
Phil loved: animals, telling a good story even if it was almost entirely fictional, red trucks, basking in any win no matter how small, diet coke, alone time, mashed potatoes, old people and the stories they shared. Phil hated: exercise, drinking water, spending money, abuse of his equipment, leaving a door open, ethnic food of any kind, and anyone that could not laugh at themselves.
Phil is survived by his sister Marilyn Daily; son Eric Reisenleiter and daughter-in-law Lisa Reisenleiter; his daughter Jennifer Danko and son-in-law Tony Danko; grandchildren, Maris Reisenleiter, Ali Allouche, Myriam Allouche, Silas Allouche, Jill Danko, Anthony Danko, and Alessandro Danko; and his dogs Yadi and Louie.
The evening before he passed, his children, Eric and Jennifer, asked him who he was most looking forward to seeing when he got to heaven and, without a moment’s hesitation, he responded with, “Nonnie. I am looking forward to seeing my grandmother, Nonnie.” Eric and Jennifer take comfort in knowing that he is with Nonnie right now; his first and lifelong love.
Permanent online condolences, stories and photos may be shared at www.hhlohmeyer.com