George J. Zivic

George Zivic, former long term resident of Dover, Ohio and more recently of Charlotte, NC, died quietly at home on Tuesday February 5th, 2019. He was two weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He was preceded in death by his oldest daughter Cathy, and his wife Suzanne. He is survived by his children; Greg Zivic of East Lansing MI, Jim Zivic of Stamford NY and Berkeley CA, Linda Zivic-Miller of Charlotte NC, grandchildren Grace and Zac Miller of Charlotte NC, and Marlo Zivic of Stamford NY and Berkeley CA.

George, son of Croatian Immigrants John and Rose Zivic, was born in Pittsburgh PA on February 20th 1924. He was orphaned at the age of three years, spending several years in Foster Care until finding a permanent home at the Toner Institute and Seraphic Home for Boys in Brookline; an orphanage run by the Sisters of Divine Providence and Capuchin Franciscan Fathers. He recalled once in a conversation that his memories of Foster Care were dire and dark, filled with the miseries of being poor in the early and mid 1920’s. When he suddenly found himself at the orphanage he recounted that he was incredibly happy as it was warm, he had a bed, and there was always plenty of good food to eat. It was at that Home for Boys that he met a nun, Sister Avodia, who would become one of the most influential persons in his life. She would routinely take him home with her to visit her family in Dover, Ohio for weekend breaks and at holidays. He remembers her as gruff and would hand out discipline for seemingly minor offenses. He laughed when he told of having his head shaved for sneaking drinks of wine from the church’s store rooms. In his visits to Dover he was introduced to Sister Avodia’s brother AJ Weigand and was a guest in his home. He also met AJ’s son Walter, his same age, who would become his best friend. Those visits to Ohio seemed to have been formative as having some semblance of what it meant to have a family and George relished those times and always spoke of them as the best of his early life.

At 16 George was placed into the Seminary to prepare for Priesthood. Not so willing to do so he found himself at the age of 18 wondering if this was the route he wanted to take. He felt AJ had always given him good advice so sought it out on this. He remembers telling AJ “I don’t want to be a priest.” AJ’s reply “Then don’t be a damn priest!”. So, like other young men during World War II he promptly joined the Navy, as had his best friend Walter, and found himself being asked to take the Officer’s Training Test. George said that the Naval Officer at the recruitment center noticed that he had a quite impressive education; he knew Latin, French, and Ancient Greek and appeared to this Officer to be qualified as Officer material. When he asked this man what he could be if he did become an Officer he was told, “Well, of course, you’d be a Chaplain.” George, being used to doing what he was told but not wanting to be a Priest and now being told he’d be a Chaplain, promptly flunked the test on purpose. As he was vomiting overboard from seasickness on a ship to the battle fields of the South Pacific he thought to himself; “My god, I should have been a damn Chaplain!”

Walter was killed in the same Pacific theater where George was stationed on a PT Boat, his ship sunk by Kamikaze attack. Devastated, George returned to Ohio and went to College at Miami University in Oxford, earning a degree in English Literature. He returned afterward to Dover and was asked by AJ to join the family business, a trucking company hauling steel, limestone, and coal from the mines to the flourishing mills and foundries of the Ohio Valley. The business prospered and it was here that George found further familial relationships that would last throughout his life. There was Cleva, AJ’s wife, Mary Louise, a daughter, and Gerald Young, Mary Louise’s husband. They would all become close knit and the Weigands and the Young’s would come to treat George as a member of the family. To the day he died the Young family has remained steadfast and loving and George cherished their visits and the often long evenings of card playing and conversation.

George met his future wife, Suzanne Bair, in the early 1950s. They would marry in 1956 and start their life together. Four children later, George found himself in a quandary; they had sold the trucking business for a handsome profit and he had landed at the Reeves Steel Company, a rolling mill and fabrication shop making galvanized garbage cans and buckets. He had become General Manager and had done well growing the operations. Sam Reeves, the owner was impressed, and asked George to move to Mansfield, Ohio and take over as General Manager there as it was a bigger facility and needed his expertise. George promptly turned him down, saying that he didn’t like Mansfield and preferred Dover. So Sam, knowing a good thing when he saw one, offered him a job at his bank. George worked in all the different locations and positions; from Teller, to the computer room, the Loan Department, and Trust. He would end up as the Executive Vice President several years later, and retired at that same position.

Over the years the family enjoyed their time together in all kinds of ways. George bought them a boat at Atwood Lake and soon had his kid’s water skiing and boating on their own, even though he admittedly felt his own skills lacking. He loved spending time with the family and close friends at the Atwood Yacht Club, serving also on the Board of Directors. George would laugh as he was teased that the first day he owned the boat he drove it into the dock, putting a hole in the bow just above the water line. It was never fixed and gave his friends ample ammunition for the running joke. As a member of the Union Country Club he enjoyed playing golf quite poorly and passed this inadequacy nicely to his children. The ‘Golf Group’, made up of close friends, endured years beyond the time any golf was being played, with Wednesday dinners and Saturday morning breakfasts, and lots of social gatherings in between. George loved taking Suzy and the children on vacations in the summer, a yearly adventure. The kids would later remember the trips fondly, with George especially relishing the far backseat station wagon rides without seatbelts, the rear window down, with the kids sucking in the fumes of gasoline vapor. A terrible tragedy unfolded in the death of George and Suzy’s oldest daughter Cathy from a motorcycle crash in 1978. A blow to the entire family George and Suzy visited her grave faithfully year after year, and said through this they had found solace and a sense of peace.

Recovering from this terrible loss George would later buy a Condominium with 11 other friends in Myrtle Beach, SC that would bring him, Suzy, and his children and grandchildren a beautiful place to spend some relaxing time together. George loved being there with Suzy and the family and went there regularly until he was unable physically to climb the long stairways. The couple lived an active life after his retirement and regularly traveled throughout the country with their friends, especially loving their annual “mystery trip” with the Fiedlers, where one couple would plan the trip and none of the others would know where they were going until they were on their way. In his later years he and Suzy would travel to see their children in New York City, Upstate New York, and Charlotte NC. After his working years, and to Suzy’s relief, most lunch times were spent playing bridge at the Dover Elks.

After the death of Suzy in 2014 George moved to Charlotte NC to be near his youngest daughter Linda, who lived nearby. He loved seeing his kids and grandchildren and they regularly visited with him at his apartment and at Linda’s house, especially enjoying the Thanksgiving Holiday.

George will be remembered by all who knew him as a man of extreme kindness who treated everyone with respect and as one whose laugh was somehow comforting in its openness. He was loved by many and he was tough as nails, with an extremely soft underbelly that found him tearing up over something as benign as a Budweiser commercial. He revered his family and loved his friends almost equally. He was from a generation that is slowly leaving us and one that seemed to find quiet ways around every obstacle and not just surviving, but flourishing. He will be missed by everyone he touched, but none as much as his loving family.

George’s family will receive friends on Sunday, February 10 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm in the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home and Crematory at Dover. Graveside services will be held on Sunday at 2:15 pm in the St. Joseph Calvary Cemetery at Dover with Fr. Jimmy Hatfield officiating. Following the graveside, a luncheon will be held in the Toland-Herzig Monarch Center. Those wishing to express their fondest memories of George may do so by visiting the online obituaries link on the funeral home’s website.