EULOGY AND HISTORY FOR GEORGE SLIVKA, JR.

George Slivka was born on February 18, 1924 to immigrants from Eastern Europe. 
He was the oldest of 6 children and spent his entire childhood in a small coal mining town in eastern Pennsylvania.

George’s childhood was filled with activities like:

• Mushroom picking in the forest.
• Learning Russian in the basement of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• Picking coal scraps from mining waste to heat the family home.
• Celebrating Christmas as the most wonderful time of the year.
• And looking after his younger siblings.

During World Ward II, George served in the Marine Corp. and spent 18 months in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific. 
His military service qualifies him and his wife to be buried in the National Military Cemetery in north Phoenix.

While all of his siblings married and raised their families within 100 miles of their home town, George ventured west. 
He was one of the pioneers of the passenger airline industry and worked in ground operations in:

• Clifton, AZ
• Tucson, AZ
• Pueblo, CO
• Omaha,NE
• Denver. CO
• St. Louis, MO
• Cheyenne, WY
• And retired in Salt Lake City, UT after 35 years of service with Frontier Airlines.

George met Anna Lee Peterson in eastern Arizona and married her on June 23, 1951. 
They were a dashing young couple with the reputation of being the best dressed and best dancers in town. 
George and Anna Lee have two children. Scott and Shawna. and eleven grandchildren. 
His son and four of his grandchildren have served LDS missions around the world.

George maintained several lifelong hobbies:

• He read literally thousands of western and spy novels.
• He could watch 4 or 5 football or basketball games at the same time. 
The Utah Jazz were his favorite basketball team. 
And the Brigham Young University Cougars were his favorite football team.
• His coin collection of nickels, dimes, and pennies helped augment the family income for many years.
• He loved shopping for clothes and left a closet containing 60 pairs of pants. 70 shirts, and 20 pairs of shoes.
• He was a watcher of people whether in the mall or from Wallmart’s coffee shop or from his porch in Greenfield Glen.

Little known facts about George include:

• He was a professional baseball umpire.
• He loved the color yellow.
• After almost 60 years of smoking, he quit “cold turkey”.
• He could nap almost anywhere and at anytime.
• He enjoyed his food extra hot and spicy and with plenty of garlic.
• He somehow developed a taste for strange foods like pickled pigs fit and lambs tongues.
• He had more fun at the zoo than his kids did.
• He was a skilled card player.
• And he was the most unlucky fisherman in the world.

For decades George and Anna Lee discussed where they would retire. 
He was adamant that they were going back to Pennsylvania. 
She was equally as firm that there was no place she was going but back to Arizona. 
Well, Anna Lee won and George ended up falling in love with Arizona a second time around.

After several significant health challenges, George passed away on Sunday, October 24, 2004 at the age of 80.

-By son Scott Slivka
Received from Don Anderton, via Paul Farris, on 7/2/05