OMAHA — Sam Teplitsky never met a car he couldn’t fix.
Not in his Great Depression-era youth, maintaining fleets for grocery stores in the North Omaha neighborhood where he grew up.
Not in the Army during World War II, where he kept trucks and Jeeps running for a unit fighting its way through North Africa and Italy.
Not after the war, when he worked as a master mechanic at car dealerships and a hydraulics company to support his wife and seven kids.
“He was really skilled, masterfully skilled,” said Brenda Teplitsky of Omaha, Sam’s daughter-in-law. “He was always working on cars.”
Teplitsky pursued his passion well into his long retirement. The combat veteran died May 30 — Memorial Day. He was 101.
Sam Teplitsky was born Nov. 15, 1920, the youngest of three sons of Morris and Esther Teplitsky, Jewish immigrants from Russia who had settled in North Omaha, near 24th and Bristol Streets. His parents didn’t say much about their life in the old country.
“His father was extremely private,” said Joe Teplitsky of Gig Harbor, Washington, Sam’s son. “He didn’t know whether he had uncles or aunts.”
Teplitsky attended Kellom Elementary School and Omaha Technical High School. After his graduation, he landed a job as a mechanic for a local Hinky Dinky grocery in North Omaha. He later worked for the Omaha Potato Market, another grocery store.
Teplitsky enlisted in the Army in April 1942. He was trained as a motor vehicle mechanic and, later that year, deployed to North Africa. He landed in Italy the following year, serving there to the end of World War II and beyond.
“My dad worked on anything that didn’t work, even defective rifles,” said Joe Teplitsky. “Parts for vehicles and equipment were not always available, and my dad would do whatever he had to do with what he had, to make things work.”
Teplitsky was discharged in April 1946 as a member of the 86th Ordnance Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company, which was headquartered in Livorno, a coastal town west of Florence.
Joe Teplitsky said his father rarely mentioned his wartime service, and his children don’t know what battles he saw — though his unit was part of the Fifth Army, which saw two years of heavy fighting up the boot of Italy, and liberated Rome from the country’s fascist, antisemitic regime.
What they do know is that Teplitsky grew to love Italy, and spoke Italian fluently.
They also know that he met the love of his life, Antonina Licausi, who was from Palermo, Sicily, at a laundry. And he stayed in Italy after his discharge to marry her.
“She was a beauty, she really was,” Joe Teplitsky said. “He’s this Russian Jewish boy, and she’s Italian Catholic.”
Married and with an infant son, Sam and Antonina — who at the time spoke no English — traveled to New York in February 1947, on storm-tossed seas aboard a liner called the Marine Shark.
Sam had bought an Army surplus Jeep in Italy and shipped it to New Jersey. They picked up the vehicle, which had no top, and drove it back to Nebraska through snow and cold. His homecoming drew notice in The World-Herald.
“When he got home, he pulled that Jeep up and parked it in the backyard,” Joe Teplitsky said. “He never drove it again.”
He took a job as an auto mechanic, and the couple began raising a family that would eventually include seven children. He did side work, too, and fixed up cars to resell them.
“It was tough. I don’t know how he did it, with seven kids,” Joe Teplitsky said. “Hard work was more important to him than anything.”
During his career as a master mechanic, Sam worked at Lied Buick, Rossi Motors and Mark Hydraulics Co. before retiring in the late 1970s. But he continued to fix cars for family and friends, and enjoyed his family. He attended synagogue into his 80s.
“He was a very forgiving, very kind person,” Joe Teplitsky said.
Antonina died in 1994. Teplitsky survived a bout with colon cancer at age 95, but he was in good health and continued to live in his own home — with help from his son, Frank — until a very recent fall.
“He thought he was going to live to be 105,” Joe Teplitsky said. “Everybody loved him. He was just a great guy.”
A private service will be held later. He is survived by his daughters, Rose and Rita, and sons Joe, Philip and Frank, along with 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Besides his wife, two of his children, Carl and Esther, and a grandson, Philip, preceded him in death.
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