smokem94
BoM Sept. 05
Here is a wonderful article that was in the paper about my father:
Miketa leaves behind a legacy full of music
George Miketa
By JOE E. CERVI
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Though he never played a musical instrument, George Miketa's legacy will forever live in song.
He died Sunday at the age of 77 following a short illness.
Miketa was a Navy veteran who worked at CF&I for more than 40 years - hardly the profile of a man whose life was filled with music. But he, too, was a gentle soul with a joyful heart and helped create the Okolitza Tamburitzans, a musical group that plays the songs and dances the dances of Croatia, Slovenia and the region.
It was preserving that heritage through the melodic sounds of the tamburas (stringed instruments) that meant the most to Miketa.
Miketa's daughter, Lisa Williams, said her father loved music because "it kept everybody together. Friends, family, new people, he just loved music because it brought everyone together."
His oldest son, Michael, remembered his first music lessons when he was 12 years old.
"My dad had my uncle, Jackie Yengich, teach me and my brother, Matt, accordion lessons. And he had my uncle, Joe Yengich, teach us tamburitzan music," Michael Miketa said. "We used to hate going to tamburitza practice. But then, you grow up and wish you would've learned even more."
The boys were part of the Novo Kolo (New Wheel) Tamburitzans until the group split in 1975.
"I had just graduated from high school and me and Mike Deverich wanted to start our own group. We formed the Okolitza (neighborhood) Tamburitzans and dad jumped in and ran it," Michael Miketa said. "Through all those years, with our family and everyone else, dad was the constant. He was there the whole time."
The Okolitza group, still making music today, flourished in the 1970s and 80s, sometimes boasting 45 or more performing members. Sons and daughters, grandchildren, lots of cousins and friends helped the group grow.
Thus, George Miketa's legacy took on a life of its own.
He loved the music - and the preservation of his heritage through it - so much that he became a board member of the Croatian Fraternal Union Junior Cultural Federation. He promoted the Okolitza group along with established groups in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and other organizations back East.
He was there, always smiling like a proud father, when the Okolitzans performed in Croatia, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, for government officials in Mexico and at Disneyland and Disney World.
In a 2003 newspaper story about the history of the tamburitzans in Pueblo, George Miketa summed up his true love eloquently.
"The music means the most to me. It's in my heart. It's in all our hearts. Even the little kids have it in their hearts," he said.
A funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. today at the Shrine of St. Therese with interment to follow at Roselawn Cemetery.
And there will be music, performed by George Miketa's children, grandchildren and extended tamburitzan family.
Miketa leaves behind a legacy full of music
By JOE E. CERVI
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Though he never played a musical instrument, George Miketa's legacy will forever live in song.
He died Sunday at the age of 77 following a short illness.
Miketa was a Navy veteran who worked at CF&I for more than 40 years - hardly the profile of a man whose life was filled with music. But he, too, was a gentle soul with a joyful heart and helped create the Okolitza Tamburitzans, a musical group that plays the songs and dances the dances of Croatia, Slovenia and the region.
It was preserving that heritage through the melodic sounds of the tamburas (stringed instruments) that meant the most to Miketa.
Miketa's daughter, Lisa Williams, said her father loved music because "it kept everybody together. Friends, family, new people, he just loved music because it brought everyone together."
His oldest son, Michael, remembered his first music lessons when he was 12 years old.
"My dad had my uncle, Jackie Yengich, teach me and my brother, Matt, accordion lessons. And he had my uncle, Joe Yengich, teach us tamburitzan music," Michael Miketa said. "We used to hate going to tamburitza practice. But then, you grow up and wish you would've learned even more."
The boys were part of the Novo Kolo (New Wheel) Tamburitzans until the group split in 1975.
"I had just graduated from high school and me and Mike Deverich wanted to start our own group. We formed the Okolitza (neighborhood) Tamburitzans and dad jumped in and ran it," Michael Miketa said. "Through all those years, with our family and everyone else, dad was the constant. He was there the whole time."
The Okolitza group, still making music today, flourished in the 1970s and 80s, sometimes boasting 45 or more performing members. Sons and daughters, grandchildren, lots of cousins and friends helped the group grow.
Thus, George Miketa's legacy took on a life of its own.
He loved the music - and the preservation of his heritage through it - so much that he became a board member of the Croatian Fraternal Union Junior Cultural Federation. He promoted the Okolitza group along with established groups in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and other organizations back East.
He was there, always smiling like a proud father, when the Okolitzans performed in Croatia, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, for government officials in Mexico and at Disneyland and Disney World.
In a 2003 newspaper story about the history of the tamburitzans in Pueblo, George Miketa summed up his true love eloquently.
"The music means the most to me. It's in my heart. It's in all our hearts. Even the little kids have it in their hearts," he said.
A funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. today at the Shrine of St. Therese with interment to follow at Roselawn Cemetery.
And there will be music, performed by George Miketa's children, grandchildren and extended tamburitzan family.
