John Julian Pavlov

John Julian Pavlov, 84, passed away on Monday, February 8th at Hospice of the Valley Hospice House in Poland.
Son of John and Mary (Yurko) Pavlov Sr., John was born on July 5, 1936 on the North Side of Struthers, Ohio. At an early age, the family moved to 7th Street in Struthers. John had many fond memories of his life on 7th Street.  John, his cousin Jackie, and friend Moe, loved playing baseball in the street with the 7th Street kids. John had a paper route and was assisted by his sister, Shirley and “sometimes” his sister, Joan helped, but she always missed the porch while tossing the newspaper.
John was a 1954 graduate of Struthers High School where he played baseball, played saxophone in the Struthers marching band and was a sports editor of the Hopewell yearbook and high school newspaper. He also wrote a weekly sports article for the Struthers Journal. John worked for Century Foods in the produce department during high school and college and eventually becoming an assistant produce manager. John graduated from Youngstown State University with a degree in business administration. He belonged to Kappa Sigma fraternity, where he was treasurer and played baseball for the fraternity team.
After he graduated from Y.S.U. he and his friend, Mike Roncone joined the United States Air Force Reserves where he became an Airman 1st Class. He was stationed at San Antonio, Texas for training and was always happy he was able to visit “the Alamo.” After being honorably discharged he returned to the area.
While at Y.S.U., he met his wife, Sue Skovira, when they were both in the wedding party of a mutual friend. John and Sue married and built a home on Tulip Drive in Hubbard, where they raised three children, John Jr., and twins, Cathy, and Kelly.
They were long time members of St. Patrick Church in Hubbard. John presently was attending Christ Our Savior Parish at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Struthers.
John worked at Wheatland Tube as the purchasing supervisor and in 1998 retired after 40 years of service. Sue was a Hubbard school teacher and she retired the same year. Their children, John Jr., Cathy Hudson and Kelly Smart had all moved to Florida after graduating from Ohio State University so John and Sue made many trips to Florida to visit them. Sue passed away in 2000.
A loyal fan of the Boston Red Sox and the Ohio State Buckeyes, John's biggest thrill was when his son, John took him to a Red Sox game and he saw the Green Monster wall at Fenway Park. Ted Williams was his “special hero” and he also loved, Big Papi.
John was a man of routine. He ate breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday at the same time and lunch and dinner was always accompanied with coleslaw. He was also a firm believer in "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and sometimes it was two or three apples a day. John was also well known for a few stock phrases. For example, if he was asked if he liked the Boston Red Sox, he would answer, "IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?" This response was ALWAYS given when he felt strongly about his answer. When he would meet someone new, he would always ask, “WHERE ARE YOU FROM?” and he always got a positive response, followed by their life story, and a new friend was in the making.  Another of his favorites sayings was, ”COLD HANDS-WARM HEART” and John certainly had a “WARM HEART.”
While attending a Struthers Wildcats Alumni reunion, John reconnected, after 40 years of not seeing each other, with an old Struthers friend, Peggy Gough. They began dating and were married in 2006 with their grandchildren as their wedding party. John and Peggy enjoyed attending their grandsons' basketball and football games at the Struthers High School and later at their colleges. Because he could not be present for his grandson's basket and baseball games in Florida, John especially looked forward to his grandson John's reports on the details of his games. As a high school graduation gift, John kept the statistics for the boys' games and surprised each grandson with the stats and details of their games in a sports album.
John and Peggy enjoyed visiting in Florida with John Jr., Cathy, Kelly and the grandkids. They made several trips to New York City with friends, Catherine and Ken Baker and the four of them also enjoyed dressing up for Halloween and touring the Geneva wineries. John and Peggy also joined a dance club where they met many fun people. The band, “The Sounds Around Town” would always play John's favorite song, “Sweet Caroline,” and everyone would go on the dance floor singing and dancing to it.
John will be so missed by his wife, Peggy; he will also be sadly missed by his children, John Jr. and Margie Pavlov, Cathy and Lee Hudson, Kelly and Max Smart, Jon and Nancy Jacubec, Matthew and Jessica Jacubec, Jill Jacubec and Elizabeth Jacubec; sisters and brothers-in-law, Joan and Jack Bolkovac and Shirley and Frank Masluk; brother and sister-in-law, Don and Marilyn Pavlov; in-laws, John and Phoebe Horvath and Walt and Kathy Gough; grandchildren, Nicholas (Jenna) Jacubec, Nate (Jessica) Jacubec, John Hudson, Suzie Hudson, Jaret Jacubec, Jessica Pavlov, Megan Pavlov, Jaelyn Jacubec, Sara Smart, and Jake (Ashleigh) Jacubec; cousins, Jack and Marilyn Yurko, and Gary Boano; good friends, Joanne Howard, Bernie Pavlansky, and Ernie and Judy Ruby; and many wonderful nieces and nephews.
John was preceded in death by his parents, John and Mary; wife, Sue Skovira; his beloved Aunt Agnes and Uncle Al Yurko.
John was loved by anyone who met him, “to know him was to love him.”
John's family requests that in lieu of flowers, that material tributes take the form of donations to St Patrick’s Church, Hubbard for their rebuilding fund or to Hospice of the Valley, Hospice House 9803 Sharrot Rd, Poland, OH 44514.  We thank Hospice of the Valley for their wonderful care of our John. We would also like to thank the wonderful staff at Masternick Windsor House in New Middletown for the love and special care they gave our John.
Friends and family may call Saturday, February 13th from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at the Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home in Poland, Ohio. A funeral celebrating John's life will follow at 12 noon with Fr. Michael Swierz officiating. A graveside service will follow with Military Honors at Hubbard Union Cemetery.
“Goodbye, John, until we meet again”!!