Mike Skradski

Mike Skradski, aged 89, passed away unexpectedly in his Kansas City, Kansas, home Friday, February 18, 2022.  Services for Mike will be Friday, February 25th beginning with a Visitation at 9:00AM, Rosary at 9:30AM and Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00AM at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.  Burial to follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.

Mijo Skradski was born July 15, 1932 in Skradsko Selo, Yugoslavia (in what is now Croatia) to parents Jura and Milka (Bradica) Skradski. He was the second youngest of seven children. After completing his required military service, Mike was one of many who volunteered to work in a government program that provided labor for agriculture, roadbuilding, and construction in post-WWII Yugoslavia. He worked other odd jobs, including freight hauling (with a team and wagon, because trucks were still scarce), and in a shoe factory.

While helping build his brother Mirko’s house in Karlovac, Mike met Mirko’s neighbor, a young widow with two young daughters. He married Ana (Makar) Mikan in 1970. In 1971, Mike, Ana, and Ana’s two daughters—Marica (Mary) and Ana (Ann)—immigrated to the United States, arriving in Kansas City on January 9. Mike was very proud of achieving U.S. citizenship and was naturalized March 11, 1975.

Life as a new immigrant was difficult, and Mike worked numerous jobs, ranging from manufacturing to meat packing, as he and Ana established themselves in Kansas. He retired from Acme Printing Ink Company (later INX International Corporation) in the 1990s. Because of this vast range of work experience, Mike was a jack of all trades and loved to tinker in his astonishingly tidy workspace.

Mike treated his stepdaughters, step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren like his own and referred to them as such. Funny and a little mischievous, he was the kind of grandfather who sat on the floor with his grandchildren to watch cartoons and play. He built child-sized furniture and always kept full-sized Hershey’s Chocolate Bars (usually with almonds) in the refrigerator for his grandchildren. He loved music, loved to whistle, and loved to dance. He loved animals and kept a menagerie of dogs, parakeets, and pigeons over the years. He was Grempo, Grandpa, Stari, Miško, and Brko to family and friends. He had a hearty laugh, a perfect mustache, and always looked dapper in a suit.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Ana, his daughter Mary (Mikan) Staresinic, his grandson Ivan Vardijan, and his siblings Josip Skradski, Marko Skradski, Nikola Skradski, Mirko Skradski, Lojzika (Skradski) Vukmirović, and Ljubica (Skradski) Halovanić. He is survived by his daughter Ann (Mikan) Vardijan and her husband Ivan, son-in-law Miroslav Staresinic, grandchildren Diana Staresinic-Deane (Jim Deane), David Staresinic, and Michelle (Vardijan) Eskina; great-grandchildren Joseph Staresinic, Ruth Staresinic, Alexis Eskina, and Zachary Eskina, and several nieces, nephews, and other family scattered across the globe.