Life and Service

George Zebrun was born on January 21, 1923, in Benld, Illinois, the eldest of three children of Joseph and Rose (Kehart) Zebrun. His sister Olga arrived about fourteen months later, followed by his brother William in 1926. The Zebrun family was part of the Holy Dormition Orthodox Church community, and George was baptized there. In the same local community, George began a lifelong friendship with "Red" (Pete) Makuh in his youth. Benld in the 1920s and 1930s was a bustling coal-mining town shaped by Slavic and Italian immigrants, and George grew up in that environment before his life took him to the great outdoors.

In April 1943, at the age of twenty, George entered the United States Marine Corps. He trained at the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, then served as a radar operator with Air Warning Squadron Seven, operating the SCR-270 mobile long-range early warning radar. His service took him to the Pacific Theater, including the campaign on Okinawa in the spring of 1945. He was released from active duty on May 9, 1946, having served approximately three years, and was awarded several military medals.

After the war, George pursued a formal education in the field that would define the rest of his life. He studied fish and wildlife biology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he completed both undergraduate and master's degrees.

George married Marie Zeschke on June 20, 1948, and together they had two sons and two daughters. In 1980, he married Betty H. Havener in Gibson City. Betty predeceased him on July 23, 2004.

Professionally, George spent his entire career — from 1952 until his retirement in 1992 — with the state of Illinois Department of Conservation, serving most of those years as a District Biologist in the Division of Fisheries. He authored three published volumes on surface water resources for the state, covering Kankakee, Livingston, and Ford counties. Alongside his conservation work, he spent four years as a science instructor and assistant football coach at Lincoln High School, beginning in 1960.

Complementing the enthusiasm in his professional life were his memorable personal traits: abundant energy, an effortless social ease, and an enjoyable sense of humor. He very well known in the Illinois outdoors community, recognized not only for his expertise in fish and wildlife but also for his engaging personality. The writer John Madson referenced George several times in his book about people and wildlife along the upper Mississippi.

George's affiliations reflected his devotion to conservation and the sporting life: the Pittsfield American Legion Post 152, Pike County VFW Post 9513, Pike County Ducks Unlimited, Pike County Quails Unlimited, Pike County White Tails, the Wild Turkey Federation, the NRA, and the Illinois Rifle Association. Even in the summer of 2009, at eighty-six years of age, he was conducting fishing clinics at the King Park lagoon in Pittsfield, described in a public announcement as a "renowned local fisherman."

George passed away on May 10, 2010, at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois, at the age of eighty-seven. He was preceded in death by his second wife, Betty, and by his brother, William Zebrun. At the time of his death, he was survived by his sons, George Zebrun Jr. of Alto Pass and Joseph Zebrun of Pittsfield; his daughters, Olga Zebrun Kramer Rives of Carlinville and Liese Zebrun-Gero of Helena, Montana; his sister, Olga Stinnett of Carlinville; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A service of remembrance was held on Friday, May 14, 2010, at Niebur Funeral Home in Pittsfield, with military rites conducted by Pittsfield American Legion Post 152. A memorial service was also held the following day at Kravanya Funeral Home in Benld. Burial took place at Holy Dormition Cemetery in Benld.

Memory Eternal   —   вѣ́чнаѧ па́мѧть