Arnold was born in Burlington County, NJ, in 1926 to parents Eugene and Lillian Higdon. The family moved to Philadelphia, PA, in 1932 where Arnie attended school and graduated from John Bartram Senior High in 1944.
He enlisted in the US Army in 1945 at the end of WWII. After six months Basic Training at Fort Dix, NJ, he joined the 229th Engineer Battalion and was sent to Munich, Germany. He was promoted to Corporal and sent to Information and Education School in Horst, Germany for six months. After graduating from I&E School Arnold worked two Information and Education jobs at the same time.
(1)Classification Specialist: He interviewed soldiers and placed
them into jobs in the Battalion.
(2)Orientation Leader of the 229th Battalion: He taught soldiers about Germany, how to relate to the German people and how to react to the post-war hostility of the German people.
In 1947 Arnold was honorably discharged at Fort Dix.
In 1948 he attended Worsham College of Mortuary and Pathological Sciences in Chicago, Ill. Following graduation in 1952 he worked as a Pathologist Assistant at Veteran Research Hospital in Chicago. In 1956 he returned home to Philadelphia where he worked as a Pathologist Assistant at Philadelphia General Hospital until 1973.
In 1973 Arnold was hired by Atlantic Richfield, Inc. (ARCO) and was trained as a Thermodynamic Engineer in Oil Tankers. He retired in l988.
He has three children by his deceased first wife. Arnie married Elizabeth Betty Higdon in 2000. They joined Asbury UMC in 2007.
Arnold was born in Burlington County, NJ, in 1926 to parents Eugene and Lillian Higdon. The family moved to 
Philadelphia, PA, in 1932 where Arnie attended school and graduated from John Bartram Senior High in 1944.