George E. Olegar Obituary (1944 - 2015)

George E. Olegar, a long-time resident of Canton, was taken home to the Lord Jesus on February 1, 2015 his having turned seventy-one the day before. Mr. Olegar’s health had been declining over the past several years, with his final several months being in nursing care. He was known to many Canton residents for his extensive volunteer work and singing, pursued for nearly four decades from his home-base at the downtown YMCA, where he resided until the closing several years ago of its residence facilities. Born in Akron on January 31, 1944, George E. Olegar was the first son of George and Ursula Olegar, who departed this life, loving the Lord, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Manifesting abundant musical talent from a young age, along with a prodigious memory, he began performing publicly in his mid-teens, distinguishing himself as a church soloist at Monroe United Presbyterian Church, along with appearances at school and civic events. While a student at Akron’s Buchtel High School, Mr. Olegar took special pride in receiving top honors on the state level in Ohio State Music Educators Association annual adjudication events. As a teen, George Olegar was highly active at the Akron YMCA, particularly Camp Y-Noah, of which he was a junior staff member. While a student at the University of Akron in the mid-1960’s, he became increasingly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, toward which he maintained a lifelong commitment. He moved to Canton in the late 1960’s, taking-up residence at the downtown YMCA, where he was extensively involved as a volunteer in a variety of activities that included leading exercise classes, along with assisting in the office and with building administration. All the while he pursued a passionate interest in learning, attending adult education classes in a wide range of disciplines, and studying on his own, building in the process a large personal library of textbooks. A familiar figure in downtown Canton, Olegar received civic citations for his volunteer work. George Olegar’s life, in terms of the formidable health-related challenges he faced from infancy on, is that much more remarkable as a dramatic testimony to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. In early childhood he was diagnosed with multiple disorders that included what came to be known as autism; later in his teens he developed schizophrenia, being hospitalized for a period, and thereafter significantly incapacitated by the illness and its various methods of treatment. Inspired by the Lord to choose over self-pity a course of service to others, it was to the latter that George devoted his life, becoming an inspiration to the many he touched and for whom he fervently prayed, as he so abundantly showed forth the Light of Christ. George E. Olegar is survived by his younger brother Charles Olegar, of Troy, New York, along with his paternal aunt Mildred Austin Olegar of Sun City, Arizona, and several cousins, including Rev. Sharon Edwards of Akron, who with her husband Ron has been among his primary caregivers. Memorials should be directed toward Harvest Christian Center, International, 116 Ninth Street NW, Canton, OH 44730, and the Canton YMCA.