Harry Frank Nojek, 95, a former resident of Douglas, Hendricks, and Chicago, Ill., and more recently a resident of the Faulkner Road, Bowden, departed this life Monday afternoon, Sept. 2, 2002, at his residence. He had been in declining health.
He was born April 2, 1907, at Douglas, the oldest son of 12 children to the late Frank Gnojek and Maryanna Kaczmarczyk Gnojek, who emigrated from Poland.
He was twice married. First during 1929, he married his childhood sweetheart, the former Sophie Rolniak of Douglas, who preceded him in death during 1978. Second, during 1980, he married the former Frances Wieczorek of Franklin Park, Ill., whom he met while taking classes in floral arrangement and who is well known in Tucker County and Elkins as a cake decorator.
Also surviving are four children, Joan Belinc and husband, Ernest, Davis, Sandra Cardran and husband, Robert, Monticello, Ind., Thomas Nojek and wife, Karen, Fairborn, Ohio, and Eugene A. Nojek and wife, Christina, Springfield, Va.; three sisters, Constance Mazurski, Stephanie Myscofski and Mary Myscofski, all of the Chicago area; 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by four brothers, Max, William, John and Alfred; and two sisters, Roberta Yarosz and Mildred Pietrzak.
Mr. Nojek began working in the coal mines in Douglas in 1918 at the age of 15. In 1925, at the age of 18, he left Douglas for Chicago, Ill., where he trained as a metal finisher. He was employed in the metal finishing trade for more than 40 years, except for a period in the late 1950s, when he worked as a carpenter. He retired in 1977, at the age of 70 as a supervisor for the Leitner Equipment Co., a manufacturer of restaurant equipment in the Chicago suburbs. In 1982, he moved to Hendricks to be near his boyhood home. In 1999, he moved to Bowden.
He attended Thomas High School, was an avid reader and furthered his interest in education by attending night school classes. He completed a certificate in real estate and in the 1960s earned an associates degree in liberal arts and horticulture from Triton College at River Grove, Ill.
An interest in civic affairs led Mr. Nojek to serve as an elected member of the Rhodes School Board of Education at River Grove, Ill., from 1951 to 1960. He was elected mayor of Hendricks in 1984 and served until 1988. Other positions he held while living in Hendricks included memberships in the Tucker County Development Authority, the Parks and Recreation Board, the Region VII Planning Commission and the Board of Directors of the Tucker County Senior Center. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club, was a 50-year Master Mason and a member of the Scottish Rite at West Chester, Ill.
Friends will be received at Lohr & Barb Funeral Home from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday. On Thursday, at 6:30 p.m at the funeral home, a prayer service will be recited by the Rev. Father William Anderson. On Friday, Mr. Nojek will be moved to the Saint Brendan Catholic Church, where the Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. The Rev. Anderson will be the presider and interment will follow at the Mt. Calvary Cemetery at Thomas. The family suggests that expressions of sympathy be in the form of contributions to Hospice Care Corp., 629 North Ave., Elkins, W.Va. 26241.
