Mike Januta

Loving husband, father, grandfather, mentor and friend, Michael N. Januta, 83, died peacefully at his residence in Plainview at 8:20 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2005. Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. today in St. Alice Catholic Church. Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in St. Alice Catholic Church with the Rev. Jim McCartney officiating. Burial will follow in Plainview Cemetery by Lemons Funeral Home.

Mike was born in Eastern Europe on Feb. 22, 1922, the son of Antoni and Agnieszka Januta. During World War II, he was conscripted by the advancing Russian occupation army in March 1941. He was captured by the German army on June 7, 1941, and transported to Stalag VI (near Meppen) where he was held as a prisoner of war for over four years. In May 1945, Allied forces liberated the prison camp and shortly thereafter Mike joined Polish expatriates in the British occupation army. He immigrated to the United States in September, 1949 and worked on ranches in Uvalde and Hondo, Texas, and then with priests and monks at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio. Mike met Anna Chomicz (a Polish immigrant and Nazi concentration camp survivor) in San Antonio and was married in 1952. Job opportunities brought them to Plainview that same year and he worked several jobs as a machinist, mechanic and carpenter. He completed trade school and in 1961 he started Mike's Muffler Shop, which he owned and operated for 43 years before retiring in 2004. Mike enjoyed serving his church community at St. Alice in many capacities and was a fraternal member of the Knights of Columbus for many years.

Mike's legacy continues through Anna, his wife of 53 years, their two sons and families: Richard (wife Deena Januta and two grandsons, David and Stephen) of Sunnyvale, Texas, and Stanley (wife Sandra Januta and three grandsons, Justin and Josef of Plainview and Jonathan of Arlington, Texas). He also is survived by a niece, Lucia, and her daughter, Angelina, of Sweden. Mike's parents, three brothers and a sister all preceded him in death in Eastern Europe.

Thank you to all who loved Mike during his lifetime and provided caring compassion during his illness. Mike deeply loved America, and especially the people of Plainview, where everyone was his friend.

The family has requested memorials be made in Mike's name to the American Cancer Society.

Published in Plainview Daily Herald from 10/3/2005 - 10/4/2005

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(NOTE: Mike was born in Poliske (Ukrainian: Поліське), a former selo (village) in the Narodychi Raion of Zhytomyr Oblast in northern Ukraine, near the current border with Belarus (GPS: 51.0737495,29.172417). The village was evacuated in 1990 following the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Poliske is located within the "Zone of Absolute (Mandatory) Resettlement" of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which is an officially-designated exclusion area around the site of the disaster. At the time, 46 families resided in the village. They were all relocated by the government to the village of Lysivka in the oblast's Popilnia Raion. On 28 Dec 1990, the Zhytomyr Oblast Council voted to remove Poliske from the register of populated places. Today, Poliske is referenced on the Internet, but no longer officially exists, as it was literally "wiped off the maps".)
-RJ-