George Michael Chieko

George Michael Chieko, 82, of Grants Pass, died Tuesday, March 6, 2007 at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

A graveside service will be at 3:00 p.m., Monday, March 12, 2007 at Eagle Point National Cemetery with Jim Brock conducting. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Josephine County Search and Rescue, PO Box 814, Grants Pass OR 97528.

George was born February 7, 1925 in Warsaw, Poland. When he was five years of age, his family (father, mother, sister, and he) came to Winnepeg, Canada. At age 17, he joined the United States Army and served in Patton’s 3rd army in Europe. As a result of that service, he became a United States citizen. He was in college in Detroit, Michigan for two years then came to California where he became Harbor patrol officer in Santa Barbara, California. When he visited Lake Tahoe, he decided he would like to live there, so he became the security officer for Harrah’s casino. In the 1970s he came north to visit a nephew in Grants Pass where he felt he had found “heaven on earth,” so he found a home on the Rogue River and found employment at K-Mart as their security officer.

In 1986, he re-married after having lost his first wife in a tragic auto accident. Soon after his second marriage, he retired, and he and his wife did a lot of traveling. They became snow birds, spending the winters in Indio, California. When he tired of “hooking” up in RV parks, he decided to settle down and enjoy the quiet life. He was an avid fisherman and gardener.

He is survived by his wife, Kay, four stepsons, one foster son, one daughter, a brother, Stan, and numerous grandchildren and nieces and nephews.