Former C.P. man was loving and helpful

Dennis J. Marijanich was the most loving person who would help anyone, his wife Paula said.

He was a happy person who loved his wife, his mother Mary Hall, his children David, Craig and Jana and his grandchildren Sara, Tyler, Aleah, Gabrielle, Nathan and Christina.

Paula Marijanich said her husband worked hard.

“That is what he did,” she said. “He didn’t play golf or have any outside activities.”

More than 500 people attended his funeral.

A 1964 graduate of East Chicago Washington High School, Marijanich, 67, of the Villages Florida and formerly of Crown Point, attended Assumption Grade School and grew up in the Sunnyside neighborhood. He met Paula, his wife of 44 years, when she was a car hop at Hessville’s Pow Wow Drive In.

“He had his gold Malibu and would drive around and come in,” Paula Marijanich said. “I would take care of him.”

Marijanich started working at Inland Steel as a laborer on graduation night.

After 35 years, he retired as a machinist.

A Vietnam veteran, Marijanich was proud of his service in the U.S. Army’s 196th Light Infantry Brigade from 1965 through 1967.

In 2000, the couple moved to the Villages where they worked in merchandising at Walt Disney World Resort for the past 13 years. He also worked at the Villages Golf Car Services for 12 years.

Until moving to Florida, the couple were active members of St. Matthias Catholic Church in Crown Point. Marijanich served as Eucharistic minister and usher. He was a member of the Men’s Guild at St. Mark Evangelist Catholic Church in the Villages.

“He was the best husband,” Paula Marijanich said. “He was so caring and loving. We said we loved each other each day. We hugged every day and kissed every day. He would call me from work and say ‘Just thinking about you and wanted to say I love you’ even after 44 years.”