George J. Skertich Jr., 86, of Dubuque, Iowa passed away peacefully at home Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Visitation will be held 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. on Monday, September 16, 2024, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Dubuque, Iowa followed directly by a mass. The mass will be live-streamed on the church’s website (stanthony-dubuque.org).  Burial to follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Dubuque.

George was born on August 24, 1938, in Whiting, Indiana.  He is the son of George J. Skertich Sr. and Grace M. (Roberts) Skertich. He met the love of his life Bette A. Furness on a blind date during the time that Bette was attending nursing school. They married April 10, 1965, at St. John Fisher Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois.

George grew up in Whiting, Indiana, Harvey, Illinois and Crete, Illinois. George graduated from Thornton Township High School and later Colorado State College in Greeley, Colorado with a degree in teaching. George started his career at his alma mater Thornton Township High School District 205.  It was there in 1962 that George began the very first special education class for children in Harvey, Illinois.  Over the summers George later attended the University of Arizona to earn his Masters of Special Education.  In 1967 George was named the Director of Special Education for the Thornton Area Public School Association.  This organization encompassed Thornton Township High School District 205 and 9 elementary school districts.  In January 1968 the Association added Public School District 215 in Calumet City, Illinois and 6 more elementary school districts, bringing the total to 17 public school districts covering 48 square miles in South Suburban Cook County, Illinois.

In 1968 George was asked to write the educational specifications for a public school day building to serve severely mentally and physically handicapped children age 3-21 years of age.  A 15 acre site in South Holland, Illinois was selected and under George’s direction the building was completed in 1972.  The school was named E.C.H.O. School, which stands for Exceptional Children Have Opportunities.  On opening day the school welcomed 250 children from those 17 school districts.  George was named the Principal of E.C.H.O. School and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1994 after 32 years of service.  E.C.H.O. School is still in operation today.

George was one of the hardest workers. He was always thinking of others and putting others before himself, especially his loving wife Bette and family.  He used to throw fund-raising dinners for the students at E.C.H.O. School – shopping for and cooking the entire dinners himself.  He used to throw dances for the children where they would get to dress up and dance to a D.J. all evening.  Three to four times a year he would have lamb roasts at his home and invite many friends and family to partake in the festivities, including tractor rides around the property.  Many games of baseball were played in the yard, as well as kite-flying, Croatian smoked sausage making; Tamburitza playing and singing.

George was passionate about all things in life and a family man through and through.  He taught his children to work hard, play even harder, go to church, “keep it in the family”; change a tire, shoot a gun, skin a squirrel, clean a chicken, hunt for mushrooms in the forest and “have a deer walk into your freezer”.

In the 1980’s George organized the Skertich Family Reunion.  There were 9 uncle’s and 1 aunt on his father’s side and long before computers, the internet or Facebook he compiled a Skertich Family History Book with a family tree and contact information of all the family members. To this day the Skertich family still refers to this book.

After retirement George continued to enjoy cooking, lamb roasting, wine making, tennis, trap shooting, fishing, gardening and travel.  In 2014 George and Bette moved to Dubuque, Iowa to be closer to their grandsons.  George relished spending time with his grandsons Michael and Matthew and was very proud to say he was always on time and never missed a day picking them up from school.  He loved being their bus driver, #1 sports fan, chief chicken soup / salami sandwich maker, and fishing rig tie-er.  One of grandpa’s many talents was being able to fit 20 lb. of stuff into a 10 lb. box and his motto seemed to be anything could be fixed with an old piece of electrical wire, a piece of string or if you pounded on it hard or cussed loud enough.

George is survived by his wife Bette; son George J. Skertich III; daughter Nancy; son-in-law James Bodnar; grandsons Michael and Matthew Bodnar; brother Lee (Olive) Skertich of Phoenix Arizona; sister-in-law Marilyn Morgan of Clayton, North Carolina and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

George was preceded in death by his parents George Sr. and Grace M. (Roberts) Skertich; his in-laws Carl and Dorothy (Troyer) Furness; sister and brothers-in-law Carol Blagg, Tom Blagg and Jack Morgan.

The family would like to thank Lisa Crawford and the staff and fellow residents of Assisi Village for their loving compassionate care and friendship of George the last 10 years of his life.

Leonard Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements (leonardfuneralhome.com).

In lieu of flowers, donations may be forwarded to Hills and Dales, 1011 Davis Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 (hillsdales.org) or Misericordia Heart of Mercy, 6300 N. Ridge, Chicago, Illinois 60660 (misericordia.com).