Scott Louis Cheslik

Scott Louis Cheslik, a long-time resident of Muncie, Indiana, died Sunday, September 13, 2026 at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, at 92. Scott was born in Winona, Minnesota, to Edward Paul Cheslik and Lenore Marie Streuber Cheslik. He grew up in Winona and nearby Albert Lea, Minnesota, and in Waukegan, Illinois. Scott attended Stout State College (now University of Wisconsin–Stout Polytechnic) until he was drafted into the army. He married Sharon Ann DeMeyer in 1958. They were married for 56 years and raised three children in Waukegan, Indianapolis, and Greencastle, Indiana before moving to Muncie, where they spent the rest of their lives together.

Scott was an engineer by trade and temperament. He began his career in the army, where, based on his drafting skills, he was selected to join the team developing rocket technology under the direction of Wernher von Braun in Huntsville, Alabama. It was an experience he looked back on with immense pride.

After the army, he was employed briefly as a draftsman at Fansteel, Inc. in Waukegan, then took a job at P.R. Mallory in Indianapolis and Greencastle. There he participated in the early development of integrated circuits and alkaline batteries. One of the machines that Scott and his team invented, designed, and built was granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office in 1973. He was hired by BorgWarner in 1986, and he and Sharon moved to Muncie.

Scott’s great lifelong passion was model aviation, a hobby he began as a young boy and which culminated in his work with the National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, where his expertise and experience designing, building, and flying model airplanes made him one of the nation’s leading experts in the field. He supervised the museum’s acquisition and archiving of historical model kits. Several scale models of iconic military airplanes that Scott built are on display in the museum’s permanent exhibit.

Over the course of his life, Scott pursued several other hobbies with equal vigor and exactitude: motorcycles, Ham radio, wine- and beer-making, and building replicas of Civil War-era firearms. He was a talented photographer and a voracious reader. Among his many interests were military history, railroads, and Native American cultures. In their retirement, Scott and Sharon took up cross-country bicycling and racked up dozens of bicycle tours all over the United States. They were active riders and volunteers on the Cardinal Greenway rail trail in Muncie.

Scott is survived by his three children, Michael Cheslik (Sandra Bengert) of Columbus, Ohio, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer (Chan Casey) of New York City, and Kay Cheslik Soforenko (Randal Soforenko) of Fishers, Indiana, and three grandsons, Luke Duwel (Shawn McKenna) of Wyoming, Michigan, Ash Soforenko of Yatsushiro, Japan, and Ryan Soforenko of Fishers, Indiana.