George Follick

SPRINGFIELD TWP. - George Follick worked with a lot of people during his adult life - and some of them didn't know his name was George.

"Blinky" was his nickname, explained his son, Tim, a natural for the outgoing owner of Flasher Light Barricade, the business Follick founded in 1955 and which he continued to run until he was 87.

Mr. Follick died of heart failure on July 27 at Mercy Franciscan Terrace. He was 89.

"He knew every street in the city," Tim Follick said, as Mr. Follick provided equipment - cones, barrels, barricades - to road construction companies for more than a half century.

"Anyone who dealt with him never forgot him," his son said. "At the bank, the mailman, the insurance agent, the aids that assisted him later in life.....everyone I run into or talk to says the same thing. 'Your dad was one of a kind, once you meet him you don't forget him.' "

As a child during the Great Depression, Mr. Follick often went door-to-door to sell his mother Nellie's cookies to bring extra money for his family while his father, also George worked at Spring Grove Cemetery. In his teens, Mr. Follick would spend weeks in summer working on his grandfather's cornfield in northern Ohio. The farm didn't have modern farm equipment and when he'd reminisce with his children years later, he was apt to tell them "how dangerous mules are," his son remembered.

Those experiences helped build a strong work ethic, Tim Follick said, and his father, a "devoted family man," worked every day of his life, if not for his business then at home, despite returning from WWII with disabling injuries.

George Follick's life story was a story of character, his son, Michael, said.

Follick joined the U.S. Army at age 17 as WWII threatened and was sent to the Pacific theatre as an infantryman after war was declared. Known for his "generous heart" throughout his life, in beach landings shorter soldiers "would go in on his shoulders," Tim Follick recounted.

Mr. Follick was seriously injured fighting in the Marshall Islands and spent two years in a Chicago hospital as doctors used new surgical techniques to rebuild his arm, including artificial tendons and new skin.

It was in that hospital where Mr. Follick met JoAnn Sansone, who became his wife of 65 years. "She came to visit her uncle, who was in the next bed," Tim Follick said. "They met and fell in love."

Despite being judged 50 percent disabled upon his discharge from the U.S. Army, which included carrying shrapnel in his leg for the rest of his life, "he never let it interfere with living a full life," Michael Follick said.

Son Tim said "family was everything" to his father. Sentimental as well as generous, Mr. Follick took photos "of every gift he every gave or received," Tim Follick said.

An accomplished carpenter, Mr. Follick built their Wyoming family home in 1951, near his in-laws' family home. His meticulous upkeep of house and landscaping was recognized by the city of Wyoming.

He never did stop working on the house and he later advised his children, "never build your own house," Tim Follick said with a laugh, adding that his father "was always happy when he was building, creating."

Known as a man who could fix anything, throughout his life Mr. Follick would also work on remodeling projects for family and friends, including his father-in-law's grocery store.

"My dad never did anything unless it was for someone else," Tim Follick said. "He built the house for my mom, he ran the business for his family. His business stayed small because he had very little focus on 'building a business,' he was focused on taking care of his customers. He wasn't willing to raise prices or trust anyone else to take care of what he felt responsible for. Every decision in his life was guided by has heart and his generosity."

Mr. Follick is survived by his wife JoAnn, son Michael of Providence, R.I., son Tim of Minneapolis and daughter Kathy Follick-Jones of Cincinnati, sister Lucille Volle, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Memorials may be made to the Autism Society of Greater Cincinnati, Attn: Annual Fund, P.O. Box 443027, Cincinnati, OH 45243 and www.autismcincy.com; and the Mercy Franciscan Terrace, 100 Compton Road, Cincinnati, OH 45215.

Written by Jackie Demaline | jdemaline@enquirer.com