Letters from friends and family
A brief resume of a well lived brief life
August 3, 2004
Gregory S. Vasich
Greg was our oldest son, our first born, the first
grandchild on both sides of the family. He brought sunshine to many; a happy,
content, enthusiastic, kind, brilliant young man. He graduated from the
University of Illinois less than 4 months prior to his death. He was not about
being the smartest or best student, but he was. He always did the right thing
and with full effort. He was a careful and just person. He was a good friend to
many. Over 1000 people attended his 5 hour wake. Friends drove or flew in from
Milwaukee, Champaign, Indiana, New York, New Orleans, Florida, Georgia and St.
Louis. Greg was just about to begin his life, moving to Minnesota with his
sweetheart, Jenny. He would have possibly attended law school there in 2005,
continued work as a draftsman for an engineering firm or been successful at
another endeavor of his choosing. Greg was very interested in helping others,
specializing in
minority and women’s studies.
Education:
o University of Illinois – September 1999 – December 2003. Greg began in
electrical engineering for 3 semesters, and then switched to English/Social
Studies. He graduated with a 3.565/4.0 grade point receiving a Bachelor of Arts
Degree in Science and Letters, majoring in English, with a minor in cinema
studies. He needed one more class to minor in sociology as well. He received
Dean’s list honors in five of his nine semesters of enrollment. He was a member
of the Marching Illini, playing trombone. He also played trombone in the jazz
band, symphonic band, pep band, basketball and volleyball bands. The trombone
section has had a tree dedicated to Greg for which the University has supplied a
plaque.
o Naperville Central High School - September 1995 – June 1999. Greg took honors
and AP classes. He graduated in the top 5%, was a National Merit Scholar
Finalist and participated in the top bands,
the Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble. Greg was a responsible and dedicated
student.
Employment:
o After graduating from high school, Greg began working for Ketchmark and
Associates, an engineering firm. He worked there full time during summer, winter
and spring breaks.
o He worked for Scarpacci’s delivering pizzas.
o He was a special education aide during the school district’s summer school
program.
o After graduating from college, Greg worked for Ketchmark full time as a
draftsman until his death. The office was heartbroken upon losing him.
Future lost:
Greg was a man of many interests. He was an avid Illini, Cub and Bears fan. He
had written several movie reviews which were posted on the web. He attended the
Roger Ebert Film Festival in Champaign yearly. He frequently went to Chicago to
see films, which is where he was returning from the evening he was broadsided at
Naper and 75th. Greg had a huge knowledge base and also had an amazing ability
to remember stats. Books on his bookshelf show a wide variety of topics from
sports, Jazz, music, Shakespeare, Joyce, women’s issues, minority issues, film,
cinema studies, Poker, and traveling in Europe. He and Jenny had just gotten
their passports for travel in Europe summer 2004. They were going to travel
together for a month, and then she would return to move to Minneapolis to begin
her job at General Mills as a food processing engineer. Greg’s brother Mike was
going to join Greg in Europe for another 3 weeks of travel before he too moved
to Minneapolis. Mike goes to college in St. Paul and the brothers were looking
forward to living in the same city again after being apart for 4 and ½ years of
college. Greg was strongly considering law school at the University of Minnesota
in fall 2005.
We mourn for the future lost. On a personal level, we mourn our groom to be, our
lost grandchildren, our children’s nieces, nephews, cousins. On a community
level, we mourn the loss of a hard working man with a keen intellect who with
his boundless energy wanted to help others get a fair shake in life.
Carol and Milt Vasich and sons