John Sidzyik

John Edward Sidzyik (Sid-zik), 83, was born in Omaha, to Ed and Elsie Sidzyik. He had an infant sister, Mary, a year older than him, who died at birth.

John was the oldest of four boys and two girls. He was the father of four living daughters and seven living sons. Two children died at birth.

He attended St. Stanislav Grade School and graduated from Omaha South High School in 1961.

He was an outgoing people person and loved visiting with people about history, politics, sports, and especially the Nebraska Cornhuskers. When watching the Huskers play football, he would sing the Husker fight song whenever they scored a touchdown. More recently, he was cheering on the University of Nebraska Women's Volleyball team.

John was a hard worker, beginning at a young age. In grade school, he and his brother, Jerry, worked at a South Omaha bowling alley setting pins. He and his brothers also cleaned the chicken coop and helped their mother with her large vegetable garden.

In high school, he worked as a landscaper, golf caddy, and construction worker with his cousins at Bockman Construction Company. He helped frame the apartment complexes in Fontenelle Hills in Bellevue.

After high school, he went to work at the natural gas and water company, the Metropolitan Utilities District, as a laborer in the Construction Division.

He also owned and operated a roofing company.

He worked nights at the gas and water company and days with the roofing company to support his large family.

He retired in 2000 from the gas and water company as a furnace inspector and natural gas leak locator.

John was an outdoorsman. He enjoyed fishing and hunting.

He especially enjoyed camping and fishing in Niobrara with his children, teaching them how to fish and how to clean the fish.

He enjoyed annual fishing trips to Chamberlain, South Dakota. One year, he won an award for catching a 33-inch female walleye. The fish was preserved through taxidermy and remains in a prominent place above the fireplace.

He went deep-sea fishing in Kauai, Hawaii, where he caught a six-foot wahoo, also known as an ono. His arms were aching after it took an hour to land the fish.

He also enjoyed salmon fishing in Lake Michigan with his father-in-law, Ed Matulka.

He was a hunter and trapshooter. He and his friends traveled to Cherry County, Nebraska, each fall to hunt grouse, turkey, pheasant, quail, and deer.

He belonged to a number of leagues, including bowling, golf, pool, darts, and the M.U.D. Gun Club.

John was a perfectionist and well organized. His man cave in the garage had every tool in its place. In the mornings, he would drink his coffee there while listening to the news on KFAB. He could fix anything and make it work again.

John was a history buff and loved to read.

He enjoyed trips with Mari to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania; Gettysburg; the monuments and museums of Washington, D.C.; Boston, where he threw a tea bag into Boston Harbor in commemoration of the Boston Tea Party; the Texas School Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, where President John F. Kennedy was shot; the presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, and Harry S. Truman; the site where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee; and the wineries of Napa Valley and Temecula, California.

He and Mari also enjoyed casino junkets to Atlantic City, where seagulls on the Boardwalk sat on his head; Biloxi, Mississippi, where they enjoyed shrimp tacos; Laughlin, Nevada; Lake Havasu City, Arizona, to see the London Bridge; San Diego and Coronado Island; Lake Tahoe; Yosemite National Park; Seattle and the Space Needle; and the Redwood Forest and Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Klamath, Oregon.

He always said it was less expensive to tour the areas surrounding the casinos than to stay in them all day.

He also enjoyed the Sight & Sound Theatre productions in Pennsylvania and Branson, including Daniel in the Lion's Den and David.

John was a bird man. He and his sister, Marilyn, had an annual competition to see who had the first hummingbirds in the spring at their feeders. He could identify a bird by its call.

He enjoyed living in Fontenelle Hills, watching the wild turkeys and deer. He did not like the raccoons, who would bring their babies to sit by the family room windows and watch TV with him.

In later years, when maintenance work became more difficult because of back problems, he depended on the help of his son, Tony Sidzyik; his grandson, Tony Pirruccello; and his nephew, Joe Matulka.

He was a member of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Omaha, IBEW Local 1521, and the Maintenance Committee of the Fontenelle Hills Homeowners Association.

Survived by wife of 37 years, Mari Matulka; daughters, Kelly (Mark) Pirruccello, Shelly (Rob) Anderson, Julie Sidzyik-sorgenfrei, Lori Ann Sidzyik (Wesley Voycheske); sons, John P. (Rene), Tony (Denise), Edward, Donald, Christopher (Rebekah Sievers), Nicholas (Gina), Robert (Amber) Sidzyik, and mother of his children, Toni Sidzyik. Forty grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren. Sisters, Marilyn (Dave) Jensen, Ann (Cal) Millet; brothers, Jerry (Marylin), Bill (Phyllis), Dan Sidzyik; sisters-in-law, Dolly (Paul) Lund-Collins, and Betsy (Joe) Bridgeford. Many nieces and nephews. 

Preceded in death by parents, infant sister, Mary, and parents-in-law, Edward J. and Dorothy M. Matulka; brothers-in-law, Gregory E. Matulka, Sr., W. Scott Lund, nephew, Gregory E. Matulka, Jr., nieces, Sherry Matulka and Lesley Lund. 

Rosary will be prayed at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, 2026, followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at Assumption Catholic Church, 336 W. Pine St., Dwight NE 68635, with Father Michael Stec Celebrating the Mass. Graveside and Inurnment will follow at Assumption Catholic Cemetery, Dwight, Nebraska. Lunch in the parish center following graveside service.