OBITUARY
John C. Velon of Grand Junction, CO, and former resident of Moline, IL
entered into eternal life on Nov. 20, 2012, at the age of 95, at the Hospice and
Palliative Care of Western Colorado Care Center in Grand Junction.
The Trisagion prayer service was held at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary, Grand Junction,
at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, and the funeral service at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27,
at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Grand Junction. There was no graveside service.
The body is being sent to Illinois for burial in a family plot.
He was born Oct. 25, 1917. Mr. Velon is one of a distinguished group of recipients
of the St. Romanos Medal from the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians,
of which he was a charter member. His lifetime work of transcribing over 10,000
hymns of the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Greek Byzantine to Western staff notation
is just one of the contributions which earned him national honor, besides his service
as an instructor of Byzantine chant and as a founding board member and president
of the Diocese Choir Federation in Chicago..
John's career at John Deere and Company, Moline, spanned 44 years in tool design
and later in management. He was well known as a musician who could play any stringed
instrument. His favorite was singing and strumming Greek folk songs on the bouzoukee.
In his youth he was the Olympic Champion of Greece in high jump, broad jump and
pole vault, and was slated to represent Greece in the 1936 International Olympics
in Germany. He emigrated to America instead.
John and Mary were members of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Rock Island, where
John served as choir director, head chanter and parish council president for numerous
terms. More recently they were members of Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in East
Moline, which John and Mary had both attended as children.
John was devoted in service to his church, having begun chanting at age 11 in Kalamata,
Greece, and retiring at age 91 as Protopsalti at St. George and Assumption. His
biography and his music, available for purchase on a searchable CD, can be viewed
on this Website. Click items on the menu above to navigate the website.
He is survived
by his wife of 75 years, Mary Kondos Velon; and his daughters, Dr. Demetra Velisarios
Jaquet, Grand Junction, and Georgia Jo Van Dam, Pacific Grove, Calif.; and by six
grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren; also his brothers, Tom Velon, Plano,
Texas, and Kosta Velisaris, Kalamata, Greece. He was preceded in death by his sister,
Dina Mekus, East Moline; and brother, Nick Velisaris, Chicago.
Memorial donations
may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado, 2754 Compass Drive,
Grand Junction, CO 81506; St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 3585 N. 12th St., Grand
Junction, CO 81506; or Central Orchard Mesa Fire Protection District, 3253 B l/2
Road, Grand Junction, CO 81503.
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