John S. Dvorack

1956 - 2021

(News Story)
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer


John S. Dvorack, a Perrysburg Township police officer for nearly a quarter century who listened to emergency scanner broadcasts as a teen and became an amateur radio operator, died Sunday in his South Toledo home. He was 65.

He had metastatic pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Doris Dvorack.

He developed heartburn-like symptoms about six weeks ago, and a scan eventually revealed the cancer. He'd seen an oncologist on Friday and, although weakened, "he wanted to fight it," his wife said. "He said, 'I want to get as much time in as I can.'"

He was a dispatcher early in his career. After a stint with the Ohio State Highway Patrol as an equipment technician, Mr. Dvorack became a dispatcher at the Toledo post on Airport Highway and in Findlay at district headquarters. He also closed his career as a dispatcher. He retired in 2010 as a University of Toledo police dispatcher and, afterward, was a part-time Maumee police dispatcher for more than a year.

"He loved dispatching, and he was very good at it too," his wife said.

Working at the highway patrol posts sparked his interest in becoming a law enforcement officer. He graduated in January, 1981 from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy and became a Perrysburg Township police officer in 1982. As a night owl, he liked working the night shift and was apt to give a ride to those in need, or maybe a few dollars or coffee.

"I know he helped a lot of hitchhikers and homeless who were out and about at night," his wife said. "He many times mentioned to me that he just wanted to treat people the way he wanted to be treated. Even people he pulled over for speeding, he was not a ticket monger."

Mr. Dvorack once told his wife of a man in custody whose wrists were too large for handcuffs and who practically had to fold himself into the back of his vehicle. The officer noted the prisoner's size advantage and asked him, " 'Are you going to behave, please, in the back of my patrol car?'" Mrs. Dvorack said. "And everything was fine. He knew how to talk to people and take a volatile situation and tone it down."

Roger Wallace, a retired Perrysburg Township police sergeant, recalled Mr. Dvorack as respectful.

"He did his job and did it well," said Mr. Wallace, who at times was Mr. Dvorack's shift supervisor. "He was friendly and calm and didn't get excited. He was a good person to work with."

Mr. Dvorack stepped back from patrol work, resigned from the township police force in 2006, and became a UT dispatcher for several years.

From scanner listener to dispatcher, Mr. Dvorack became an amateur radio operator and received his federal license in 2005. He traveled the world on the airwaves and exchanged QSL cards confirming communication with ham radio operators from across Europe and from Greenland, Kenya, Russia, and Japan.

He was a member of amateur radio groups in Toledo and Fulton County and enjoyed visits to the Hamvention sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association.

Born March 19, 1956, to Catherine and Albert Dvorack, he grew up near Haskins, Ohio and was a 1974 graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo before attending the University of Toledo.

Surviving are his wife, the former Doris Schadenfroh, whom he married May 18, 1987, and brother, Michael Dvorack.

A funeral Mass will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in South Toledo, where the family will receive guests after 10 a.m. Arrangements are by Newcomer Southwest Chapel.

The family suggests tributes to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. He can be contacted at mzaborney@theblade.com.