Anthony Barnatovich

Anthony J. Barnatovich passed away January 4, 2009, at the Highlands Care Center, Laporte, Pa.
Tony was born June 19, 1920, in Bernice, Pa., to George and Anna Adulaitis Barnatovich. He was the youngest of three children. Tony attended the Bernice school and South Side High School in Elmira, N.Y., in the vocational program. There, he was certified as a machinist. Tony always led a very full and active life. He began his career at the Mildred Silk Mill before working with the CCC Camps and WPA Project. He also boxed as a welterweight in an organization with his friend Mickey Grandinetti.
In 1941, he married Josephine Serafini. In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II with the Seabees unit and was a machinist with a construction battalion in the West Indies for two years. When he returned from the war, Tony became the commander of the American Legion Post 452 in Mildred, Pa., and helped raise funds to construct the Legion building. He held this position from 1946 to 1950. He was also involved with the V.F.W. Post 384, New Albany, Pa. Tony had a deep appreciation for learning new things.
In the Navy, he was certified as a refrigeration specialist, but this was just the beginning of Tony’s many educational ventures. In the service and under the GI Bill, he became certified in business and management, and auto mechanics (Walter Dunn’s Garage, Dushore), and as an industrial electrician (Johnson City, N.Y.). He later became certified as an accountant by the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General. Tony was a very civic-oriented citizen and participated in many efforts to improve his community. He served as a member of the Selective Service board, a scoutmaster for Boy Scouts of America, and a Cherry Township school director and later treasurer. He also directed and raised funds for the Sullivan County Industrial Corp., which established the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Factory in Mildred. This facility provided employment for 200 people. Tony and his friend Morris Hoffman also served together on a committee to obtain a new road with curbing through Mildred, as well as new street lighting with modern fixtures.
He also served as president of White Ash Land Association, an organization that purchased 5,000 acres of land including the Connell’s Dam parcel for outdoor recreation for its members. When a fire destroyed St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Tony coordinated with Father Luke Halley and Betty Jane Doyle to raise funds to rebuild the church and rectory. He also became secretary of the Ber-Mil Fire Company and treasurer for the fireman’s relief association and held this post for more than 20 years.
In 1954, Tony was elected as a state representative for his district and served with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives until 1956. He then chaired the Sullivan County Democratic Committee for several years afterward. At this time, he opened a beverage business called Sulco Distributors, which he operated for 15 years. Still very much involved in local politics, Tony sought opportunities to assist the people of his community. He enlisted the help of Congressman Dan Flood in the 1970s to create a Job Corps project using the facilities of the recently closed Benton Air Force Base. Instead of the buildings on base being torn down, they were renovated into the Red Rock Job Corps Center, a facility that employs many Sullivan County residents to provide job training to underprivileged youth. Tony later opened a gym in the basement of the Mildred Fire Hall to train young men to box. Some of his students were young men from the Job Corps Center.
Tony then worked as a liquid fuels auditor for Pennsylvania Auditor General Al Benedict. Other activities in which Tony participated were: member of the Danville Moose, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 163 in Wilkes-Barre and Progressive Agricultural Association; strip mining efforts in Mildred; member of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP); president and vice president of the Pennsylvania Association of Retired State Employees (PARSE); and lobbying for the implementation of a central sewer system in Mildred.
He was predeceased by his wife, Josephine; his brother, Frank Bernatavitz; and his sister, Katie Waldron.
Tony is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Jeanne and Mike Bilski, Wilkes-Barre; a son and daughter-in-law, George and Vanessa Barnatovich, Mildred; a son, Joseph Barnatovich, Mildred; five grandchildren, Suzanne Nesmith, Michael Bilski, John Bilski, Lisa Elliott and Joel Barnatovich; 11 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at Thursday, Jan. 8, at 10 a.m. at the P. Dean Homer Funeral Home, 206 Water St., Dushore, and will be followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Mildred, with the Rev. Joseph R. Hornick, his pastor, presiding. Interment will be in the adjoining parish cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the P. Dean Homer Funeral Home.
Graveside military services will be accorded by members of McDermott Post 452 American Legion, Mildred. Members are asked to assemble and pass in review at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the funeral home.
The family will provide the flowers and request that memorials be directed to the Mildred Ambulance Association, PO Box 74, Mildred, PA 18632.
To send condolences or sign the e-guestbook, please go to homerfuneralhome.com.