George L. Strycker

George L. Strycker passed away on July 8th, after a brief fierce battle with Adenocarcinoma signet cell cancer. He was with his loving son, Jesse, and Julie, his loyal wife of 53 years, and dear friends by his side. George was born October 14, 1949. He and Julia married in 1972 and were blessed with Jesse in 1978. Our family happily grew when Jesse married Angela Cataldo in 2009, and we were so happy when they were blessed with their son Archer. George was such a loving grandfather and had so much fun baking blueberry muffins with Archer that Archer called him, "the muffin man." He is remembered with great love by his older brother, Will Strycker and wife Kathy, younger sister, Suellen Gilliam and husband Keith. He is lovingly remembered by niece Alison and nephews Ryan, Brett, Adam, and their sons and daughters. George was greatly loved by his cousins with Julie; Debbie and Bruce Doughty and daughters, Tim Chenoweth and mother, Sharon Chenoweth, Sherry and Rich Oswalt and sons and grandsons, Michele Personette and life partner Duane Whitman and her daughters and grandchildren. Because George was so loved by all who knew him there is not enough space to list all of the cousins who loved him.
George was greatly loved by his friends of a lifetime. As he was in Hospice care at home his friends came to be with him and took turns coming to see him and chatting so he could listen and join in until he no longer could. But he could still hear and would make attempts to respond.
When she saw all the good people who came to be with him a Hospice worker asked me why George was so special, had he done something exceptional? George did do things; from 1977-1988 we owned The Jersey Lily in downtown Bloomington. When we closed the store George got his master's degree in Instructional Systems Technology and was a library Media Specialist at Indianapolis Public Schools for 23 years. He was an extremely good athlete and swam competitively in high school, he was also an Eagle Scout. He was a veteran of the Vietnam war. He told stories finally later in life about his time in Vietnam. But he only told the happy, funny ones.
But what made so many people love him was because he was so loveable; caring, accepting, and he never said a bad word about anyone. His friend, Steve, might add, "Except when IU lost to Purdue." He was loyal and would do anything he could for his family and friends. He always looked on the positive side of everything. He was just a man people loved. Losing him is like losing a large part of ourselves.
Services will be held at 1:30PM at First Presbyterian Church at 221 E 6th St, Bloomington, IN on Saturday, July 12th. There will be a reception following the service at our home at 1705 S. Sycamore Ct.