Valentin Jugovic

Valentin (“Mac”) Jugovic, age 78, of Zagreb, Croatia (then Brimfield and Peoria Illinois, and later Zdrelac, Croatia), has died after a painful battle with COVID-19 and related complications including pneumonia. He was hospitalized for 10 days and spent the last few days in critical care, then died in his sleep on November 17, 2020.

He was born in 1942 into extreme poverty in what was at the time, Yugoslavia. His parents, Franjo and Leopolda, died while he was still a child. He was raised to adulthood by his siblings, particularly his sister Jelenka Jugovic, who later died from cancer.

He was the second youngest of 9 children. Before coming to America, Valentin studied agriculture, and was a gym teacher for a brief time in Yugoslavia. He left Yugoslavia in his 20’s for what he saw as the land of opportunity in America. He became a naturalized American citizen in the 1970s and lived there until his retirement.

When he met Koraljka Horvat, they were both very young.

He was a teacher in Krizevci (then Yugoslavia), and Koral was a student. After emigrating, he wrote her letters from America. Those letters were saved in a carved wooden box along with his old beat-up gym-teacher whistle. His children always wanted to read those old letters, but his handwriting was impossible to understand, so they are a story that will always be kept secret.

Koral was 19, and Valentin (“Val” or “Mac”) was 26, when they married in 1968. We hear there was a wedding that lasted 3 days, then Koral packed up and waited quite some time to finally immigrate. During the Czech spring, there was the possibility that she would not be able to join him due to political events. When she arrived in America, she completed nursing school a second time, having already completed nursing school in Croatia. For decades, Mac worked for Caterpillar, in the tool room, as a factory worker in Peoria and E. Peoria, Illinois.

Mac and Koral went on to have 2 children, Heidi, and Helen. Helen married Ante Tarokic, and of that marriage they have two children, Ante (age 4) and Adriana (age 8). His grandchildren knew Valentin as "Dido" (a nickname for grandpa) and Valentin often went by Mac or Val.

Mac and Koral renewed their vows after 25 years at St. Jude’s Church, in Dunlap, Illinois. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Zdrelac. They were married more than 52 years before his death parted them.

Valentin and Koral initially settled on a home and farm in Brimfield Illinois, where he built orchards and large vegetable gardens, and raised animals and pets, including a stray cat his young daughters made him name "Kitty Cat Love."

He often worked second shift, double shifts, weekends, and holidays. Work was something he always felt good about. He would come home and then work more in the garden, in his garage, and in his woodworking shop.

Mac was a force of nature, determined to provide for his family and give them the life he felt they deserved. His family meant more to him than anything else in the world. This was something he often talked about and which was seen in the way in which his life revolved around work and home.

His daughter Helen would wait up for him at night to come home from the factory and he would tell her so many stories of the tough and poor childhood he had in Yugoslavia. Many of his childhood experiences involved surviving physical and mental abuse, extreme poverty, and growing up during and after WWII. It was no wonder he wanted more out of life than what he had growing up.

Mac used his survival skills to make a better life for his family. He taught his children to play the games of his own childhood, to work with tools, and to care for plants and animals. His older daughter Heidi would draw him pictures and raised baby chicks in an incubator with him on the farm. As the children read books like “Little House on the Prairie,” Mac would show them how to do things from the books, like tapping trees from maple syrup on their 12 acre farm, and later making candies using snow to cool off the syrup.

As his children grew, he and Koral moved them to Peoria, Illinois, where they could complete high school. He made sure each one had a car and a college education, all the while working in his garden, building a pond in his backyard, and grabbing an extra shift at work whenever he could.

Living in Peoria in the suburbs gave him a chance to make new friends. Bob and Joni Foster lived walking distance from their new home, and Bob was a builder and Caterpillar man, while Joni loved flowers – so there was a lot in common for them. There were so many people in that neighborhood who meant a lot to him.

If there was one thing which he was most proud of, it was that he had opportunities in America that exceeded his dreams and which he could share with his family. This love of opportunity led him to be easily convinced by Helen that he should let her study abroad in Mexico and South America, and led him to buy every St. Joe's college sweatshirt Heidi's student bookstore had to offer while she studied on full scholarship. He was a complete softie for a "Proud Dad" or "Father of" sweatshirt or t-shirt. He liked seeing Heidi and her college friends in plays and homecoming events.

Mac was a lifelong gardener, a hobby he shared with his wife and occasionally with his children. With that love of growing things, he built orchards, made jam from apricots, and berries he grew in his garden, pickled peppers, and engineered entire landscapes by hand. He broke his back a few times overworking. Working outdoors, year-round, often led him to exclaim “God Bless America and Air-Conditioning!”

Mac was also a passionate woodworker. He would carve figurines and polish and lacquer them in his spare time. He would say, instead of "Measure twice, cut once" that his motto was "Measure twice, cut wrong." Even so, he hand-carved a solid wood crib for his firstborn daughter, Heidi, a crib his grandkids later got to play in. He made kitchen tables, plant stands, blanket racks, all out of wood. Behind it all was his love for creating things from the natural resources around him, building things, and making the world more beautiful.

Mac drove everyone crazy with his woodworking projects and magazines, except for his wife’s great uncle “Mico,” who also loved woodworking. Mico and his wife Ana had immigrated to the US from Yugoslavia in the 1970s. Mac and Koral became friends with a few other Croats as well, including Mike and Mila Perica, after meeting Mila in ESL class. His brother Ernest and wife “Mici” would visit from Canada, also having emigrated from Yugoslavia.

Anyone who knew Mac knew that he was the most loving person. He loved the home and life he built in America for his family, but when Croatia became independent, his love for his homeland overtook him. Mac and Koral became Croatian citizens after the 1990s war. He and Koral retired in 2003, and he promised to take a break from all the hard work when they decided to spend most of their time in Zdrelac, Croatia. He dreamed of island life, floating in the clean Adriatic Sea, and resting.

Zeljko Adzija, his brother-in-law, helped him find a home in Zdrelac to buy and build on, in the 1990s. So by 2003, thanks to Zeljko having coordinated construction, the home was ready for Mac and Koral. Zeljko was a pro at island life, and was ready to show Mac how retirement and relaxing in Southern Dalmatia is done!

Mac, of course, decided not to rest, and instead built large gardens, a stone wall, an olive grove, a home for the donkey he adopted, and even two small apartments on top of their island home. Having lived most of his life on the mainland, he did not like olive oil, wine or fish - the three staples of the southern coast of Croatia which he loved - but he could be convinced at times to see what all the fuss was about.

He loved the fresh air, the view of the sea from his home, taking a summer swim, and resting in his favorite recliner. He bought a little boat even though he was afraid of seasickness. He went fishing even though he had no patience for fishing. He reconnected with old childhood friends and family in Croatia, and visited some of the most beautiful parks and waterfalls in the world. For more than 10 years he was very active in volunteer work with Udruga Levanda, a group in Zdrelac that beautified Zdrelac, made summer entertainment programs for summer tourists and the people of Zdrelac, built a soccer field and playground, and many other projects. His wife and her friend Gordana always had a new tough project to make Mac happy.

Somehow 17 years flew by. He always wanted people to come visit in him Croatia, but his health deteriorated, and he eventually was simply in no shape for visitors.

Mac was predeceased by his parents and all but 3 siblings, Kornelija, Ernest, Nikola. He is survived by his wife, Koraljka, his daughters, Helen and Heidi, his son-in-law, Ante Tarokic, and his grandchildren, Ante Roko and Adriana.

The family requests that donations be made in his honor to help with expenses of beautifying his gravesite which is overlooking the Adriatic Sea in Zdrelac, Croatia. There will be a small outdoor service after cremation due to COVID-19 restrictions, starting at the post office in Zdrelac and walking to the burial ground nearby.

We ask that everyone please consider that COVID-19 is extremely contagious, and that they use social distancing measures, wear masks correctly, wash their hands, and make efforts to end this pandemic.

Mac needed assisted living when after many years of having 24/7 caretakers in his island home. We had to get help for him at Dom Ivan Pavao II. The staff there have been incredible and even got him eating more fish and trying a little wine too. But when the virus came back to the area, it took him from us just as he was rehabilitating.

The lockdowns from the virus kept him from all the visits that cheered him up - and made it harder on him and all of us. He suffered a lot and was unable to have visitors or even the last rites he wanted because of COVID-19 restrictions.

We are grateful he is out of pain and will rest in peace. Please share with us your stories of Mac, your condolences, your kind words, and your grief. We still feel it was just yesterday that he was young and strong.

Mac really did achieve and surpass his dreams. He loved Zdrelac so much and lived a full life. He loved his old timer Cadillac DeVille that he brought with him to Zdrelac – there was no dealership to service the car but it was his piece of America that he wanted with him – seats "like sitting on a couch" and he would say it felt like it was floating when it drove.

He loved listening to the music of Vice Vukov and Ivo Robic. The song “To je moja zemlja” (roughly translated to “This is my land”) was one of his favorites. He also very much loved "On Eagle's Wings," a hymn that was sung at St. Judes in Dunlap, Illinois, many times. We will play these two songs at his service.