'I do not want Uncle Mickey to forget me'

My Uncle on my Mom's side, Mickey Ivanovitch, was born on March 5, 1943 to John and Bonnie O'Brien Ivanovitch.

Mickey attended school in rural schools in North Phillips County, including Plainsview, taught by his mother. Mickey graduated from Whitewater High School and joined the U.S. Marine Corps of which he was very proud.

He served in various places including the Philippines and Vietnam! A vile chemical called Agent Orange was used there to attack our enemies, but the side effects to our soldiers in so many ways is a tragedy. This chemical marked Agent Orange has taken the bright mind of my Uncle Mickey in a time period of four years, with the swift progression from home to a nursing home in a month when it took hold.

Mickey was a very quick wit and was a participant on the Jeopardy show. He has a vast collection of "Ripley's Believe It or Not" items, though he now does not even know his own name, let alone the worth of his collection or the answer to any $100 question.

He got Loran Green and the world's largest hamburger at the Sleeping Buffalo in the Ripley's landmark events.

He was a bartender, janitor and psyche ward nurse for many years. Mickey had a gift for tending to elderly people with kindness and compassion. Mickey was caring for an elderly couple last year that lived across the street from him in Dresden, Ohio. He became disorientated and was taken to a nursing facility and has not been home since and is in a catatonic state much of the time.

Mickey had birthday dates and phone numbers for most everyone in Phillips County and would call to wish Happy Birthday every year to hundreds of people for the last 20 years. I will have to call him to remind him of April 8th this year. His "Patty Post Office" was one that he called wishes to and in 2014, Mickey called on three different occasions wishing birthday greetings and when Patty would say, 'thank you, but my birthday is not for two months yet." We do not want him to forget us and He did not want to forget, either.

In 2013, Mickey called to say he wanted me to know that he forgot more about his house floor plan when he was out in the sun, maybe mowing the lawn and would get sweated up! He thought there was a connection to even temperatures and even maybe to a cool temperature for even thinking!

I went to Ohio on Veteran's Day to give Mickey a salute. I gave him his Marine cap and he put it on and I asked if he knew what a salute was and his arm shot up into a fine salute.

Mickey was a Santa for over 50 years at many Christmas functions. I showed him some pictures of a lot of people he would know and in one picture of my birthday party he said, "Santa Claus".

My Mom, Sally Austin, was in her "going to town red vest and red pants." When I arrived at the nursing home to see him, He was standing guard at a laundry cart and had been for hours as he never forgets that he is to work. My Aunt Patsy Ivanovitch Donich was visiting Ohio with me and Patsy asked Mickey and pointed to me, 'Do you know who this is?' Mickey winked at me and said to me, "You better tell her who you are!"

Mickey's address is 1009 Chestnut Street, Dresden, Ohio, 43821.