John Joseph Zaborsky

1943 - 2022

John Joseph Zaborsky passed unexpectedly Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, with his wife of 52 years, Pat, by his side.

John was born May 11, 1943, at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla., to John A. and Josephine Kalish Zaborsky. His father left shortly thereafter to serve in World War II and his mother returned to live with her family in Pringle until his father's return four years later when the war was over. John ended up being the oldest of seven children, three boys and four girls.

John was a graduate of Hanover High School, Hanover Twp., and attended one year of prep school, courtesy of his mentor, Frank Martz of Martz Bus Company, where his father worked his entire career. John then attended Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) for four years, majoring in physics. When he became draft eligible during the Vietnam War, he visited the draft offices of all the services and was promised months of specialized training by the Army, Air Force and Navy, all of which greatly appealed to him. However, in a move so typical of John, he decided to join the Marine Corps, which had promised him exactly nothing.

After boot camp, he served one year at the Marine Corps Base at Chu Lai in Vietnam. Upon return to the States, he was admitted to Marine Corps OCS and completed training there. When he was offered his choice of infantry officer or artillery officer for another year in Vietnam, he declined his commission and served the remainder of his enlistment as an avionics instructor at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. He met his future wife, Pat Morton Zaborsky, at the beach there and they married following his discharge from the Marines in 1970. John subsequently got his degree in physics from Jacksonville University, where Pat's father was a professor. After graduation, John joined Southern Bell (then Bell South, now AT&T) for a career in engineering and technical support management.

John had a wonderful sense of curiosity and a lifelong thirst for knowledge. He was interested in anything of a scientific nature, including astronomy, medicine and, above all, physics and nuclear technology. He actually wanted to know how to make an atomic bomb. John was far from all work and no play, though. He had an adventurous spirit and loved tennis, fishing (ideally from a kayak), driving his sports car, flying, hiking, mountain biking, snorkeling, scuba diving, birding and even banging out some boogie on the piano or strumming a bit on the guitar. After he got his private pilot's license, he and his wife bought a little plane that they took everywhere from Maine to the Bahamas.

John was also an accomplished woodworker. He started with knife handles, gun grips and cutting boards, then graduated to laminated wood works of art (fish, sharks and rays) along with kayak paddles and a couple of table tops. He made several beautiful wooden kayaks but his greatest achievement was crafting 10 classical guitars.

John was preceded in death by parents, John and Josephine Zaborsky; sister, Melanie Zaborsky Sykes and her son, Marc; and infant sister, Anita.

Surviving are his wife, Pat Zaborsky, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; siblings, Thomas (Mei Lien) Zaborsky, Pottstown, and Spring Hill, Fla.; Marianne Phillips (Paul), Hanover Twp.; Patricia Zaborsky, Wilkes-Barre; Joseph (Lisa) Zaborsky, Wylie, Texas; and several nieces and nephews.

John also had three beloved cats, Oppie, Echo and Poolee (who only survived him by a week).

John's ashes (along with Poolee's) were spread in the marsh behind his house according to his wishes in a private family service.

Memorial donations may be made to The Leukemia And Lymphoma Society at www.lls.org/.

If you would like to share a memory, please visit www.craigfuneralhome.com/obituaries/John-Zaborsky/#!/TributeWall.