GAVLIK, JOHN P., JR.

Mr. John Peter Gavlik Jr., 86, died Friday, Aug. 26, 2005, at Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home. He was born May 17, 1919, in South St. Paul, Minn., the son of John Peter and Mary Guy Gavlik. Mr. Gavlik served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He was a member of the Marine Raiders, having seen action in the Asiatic Theater, Pacific Theater, Samoa, Guadalcanal, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands on a mortar team. Mr. Gavlik retired in 1975 after 32 years as a federal meat inspector with the USDA. Survivors include his five children, Mary L. Gavlik of Johnson City, Tenn., Gloria Jean Kiger and husband, Gary Wayne, of Lexington, Linda Merritt and husband, Stanley Paul, of Tobaccoville, Deborah Cox and husband, Tim, of Lexington and John Robert Gavlik and wife, Elizabeth, of Oak Ridge; grandchildren Richard Ryan, Roy Kiger, PFC Bracken Kiger USMC serving in Iraq, Angela Verdery, Christopher Merritt, Matthew and Sara Cox, John Paul and Thomas Gavlik; and great-grandson Jonathan Kiger. A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. today, Aug. 28, at Hayworth-Miller Silas Creek Chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.