John Chobor Jr.
John Chobor Jr. of Shelter Island died at Southampton Hospital with his family at his side on Wednesday, February 1. He was 79.
Born December 31, 1932, in New York City to John Chobor Sr. and Theresa Kovalchuk, his friends and family loved to say the whole world celebrated his birthday on New Year’s Eve. For the last 79 years, Mr. Chobor showed those who knew him that compassion, love, faith and kindness could be lived out in one’s daily life. Though he was a builder by trade, he will be remembered not for the structures which he has left, but for the lives he has touched and the honorable and gentle mark he left on this Earth, survivors said.
Mr. Chobor attended Brooklyn College before joining the U.S. military. He was proud of his time in the military, having honorably served in the U.S. Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy. His innate love of the water and desire to be involved with his community led him to be the rear commodore of the Chelsea Yacht Club in New Hamburg and president of the Lions Club and a member in the Gardiner’s Bay Club, both on Shelter Island.
Mr. Chobor’s church was extremely important to him, as he was a founding member of the St. Gregory Russian Orthodox Church in Wappinger Falls and a member of the church counsel at Kimisis Tis Theotokou, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons in Southampton.
He and his wife, Mary Catherine Chobor, made their home on Shelter Island after having lived in Ulster and Dutchess counties for many years. Mr. Chobor had four children and five grandchildren.
“John’s spirit of gentleness, love and goodness will survive in all of the lives he touched,” family said.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary; children, Anna Chobor of Sag Harbor, Karen Lawson of New York City, John Chobor and his wife Jennifer of Connecticut, and Christopher Chobor of Shelter Island; grandchildren, Bartholomew, Nicholas, Mackenzie, Isabel and Katia; and sister, Olga Rosina. He was predeceased by a sister, Mary Strenk and a son-in-law, Bartholomew Lawson.
The family received friends on Thursday, February 2, at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. A funeral service took place on Friday, February 3, at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons. Interment followed at St. Mary’s Cemetery on Shelter Island.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Gregory Orthodox Church or the Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons, c/o RG, 575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor room 64, New York, NY 10022.