Valentine John Lazar Jr.

Valentine John Lazar Jr., 84, of Blairsville, died Monday, Jan. 7, 2002, in his home.

A son of Valentine J. and Gabriella Terbot Lazar, he was born May 5, 1917, in Moon Run (Allegheny County). Mr. Lazar was a member of SS. Simon and Jude Roman Catholic Church, Blairsville, where he was very active. He served as financial chairman, member and former president of the parish council, lector, Eucharistic minister, sang in the men's choir and was past grand knight of Knights of Columbus Council 3624, Blairsville. He graduated from Sewickley High School in 1935 and the University of Alabama in 1940 in metallurgical engineering. He worked for 15 years at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a metallurgical engineer, working on many ships, including the battleship Wisconsin, and worked for 30 years at Westinghouse Specialty Metals, Blairsville, retiring in 1985. Mr. Lazar received the Citizen of the Year Award in Philadelphia in 1951. He was active with the Boy Scouts of America for 60 years and started new troops in many areas. He had been scout commissioner of Indiana County and received the Silver Beaver Award, St. George Award and the Woods Badge Award. He was past president of the Blairs-ville-Saltsburg School Board and served on the AAIN Intermediate Unit, Indiana County Vo-Tech Board and the Blairsville Recreation Board. He was senior citizen tax counselor for Indiana County and also served as its chairman. Surviving are his wife, Ann L. Kowalcheck Lazar, whom he married Aug. 9, 1941; two sons, John V. and his wife, Beverly, of Henderson, N.C., and Tomm C. and his wife, Shirley, of Belle Vernon; two daughters, Valerie Orris and her husband, John, of Johnstown and Anita Smith and her husband, Gary, of Blairsville; Also surviving are seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a brother, William, Venice, Fla.; two sisters, Elsie Grkman of Yukon and Ann Chew of Greensburg; many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Albert and John. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today in SS. Simon and Jude Church, by Fr. Chester J. Raimer. Interment will follow in West Newton Cemetery.