Born 3-1-1938 in Rupe – Skradin Sibenik, Dalmacija
He lost his parents at age 3 and was raised by different family and until age of 19 when he went to “Yugoslavian army” his life was more then hard. After the army, Ivan went to work for Geotehnika Zagreb (1958) and work for them till 1980. He enjoyed & loved his job as a busac and he loved the traveling this job need it.
Ivan married Ankica Stojankovic in 1965 and lived in Doboj.they divorced in 1976.
1977 Ivan married Ana (Amalka) Dvorak and started family & kids he always wanted.
Out of this marriage came 5 children – Marko – Hana – Ivanka – Petar and Simon.
They lived in czechoslovakia until 1983 (Ana’s country) and from there they came to live in usa.
They settled first in Santee – California and then they moved to Ramona.
Ivan found a friend Nikola “Nine” Pandza & his family in Ocean Beach – California and worked for “Nine” couple of years.
He was well known for his hard work & love for his country & family.
Later time, Ivan worked for other people from his country.
Milan in Escondido and Stipe in San Carlos.
He lost contact with most of them when he picked up his family and moved to Las Vegas for better job opportunity in 1987.
A year later he & his wife realized that they want to raise the kids in smaller community and they once again moved to Newport Washington, where Ivan lived until his death. In newport Ivan became stay at home dad – due to his health problem, while his wife worked. One of his duties as stay at home dad was taking care of their son Simon who was seriously ill since 1984 with kidneys.
In 1994 Ivan went to Croatia to visit his family and friends. he stayed there for 6 weeks and then he return to Newport and share his stories about his visit to his so loved country with anyone who would listen.
He also did invite his older brother Sime and nephew Milan Zorica to come and see how life is in USA and to show them his life here.
In 1995 Simon the youngest son of Ivan & Amalka (Ana) died due to complications – (simon was born 4/20/1981 & died 9/3/1995).
The pain of losing their child drove Ivan & Amalka (Ana) to divorce in 2001 yet they remained close friends and visit each other often and even after Amalka (Ana) remarried. They shared family events – spent holidays and traveled to Ohio to their middle son’s (Petar) wedding together.
In 2004 Ivan illness was getting worse, but he was not giving up until October of 2007 he announced to his kids & ex wife that he is ready to go. For the children’s sake he said he would try to make it through christmas and he kept his word.
Ivan died on January 31, 2008 with his oldest son Marko (and Marko’s wife Jackie) by his side with all the kids and grandkids on the way to Newport to say good bye to their father & grandfather.
His ex-wife was also came to say good bye.
Ivan will be cremated (as he wished) and there will be private family memorial for him at a later day, when grounds are not frozen to be put in the plot with his youngest son.
Ivan was loved by many people, friends and family but his grandchildren are the ones who will miss him the most.
On the day of Ivan’s passing grandkids were sitting around talking about grandpa Ivan and his cooking his jokes he made and then one of the kids suddenly asked who will make us the greasy eggs from now on?
Ivan was the only one who could of make scramble eggs floating in grease and grandkids would be the only ones who could eat them like that.
Ivan left behind his son Marko with wife Jackie & kids, Kiara, Kyler & Kade in Newport – Washington.
Daughter Hana with kids, Jordan & Nikky in Spokane Washington.
Daughter Ivana with son Milo also of Spokane.
Son Petar with wife Tiffany & kids Selena, Simmone, Seth & Pierce of Ohio.
Nephews Milan & Mladen Zorica & their families of Viskovci Croatia.
Sister Zora Pantic & her family in Banja Luka.
Sister Ana Skrobonja & her family in Sibenik – Croatia.
Numerous other family members and dear friends.
Anyone who knew Ivan Zorica is welcome to contact Molly Foth at this address [email protected]
Formatted for CROWN by Marko Puljić
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