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Gus N. Gikas Baton Rouge, LA QCWA # 14234 Chapter(s) 38 and 109 |
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Colonel Gus Nestor Gikas, USAF Retired, passed away in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on September 22, 2020, at the age of 99.
He was born April 20, 1921, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the oldest of six children of Greek immigrant parents, Aphrodite Coronis and Nestor K. Gikas.
He was raised in the oil boomtown of Borger, Texas, where as a youth, he learned to repair radios and became a HAM radio operator (call sign W5HRF), keeping his license for more than 80 years.
In 1942, he enlisted in the US Army as a radio operator and transitioned to the Army Air Corps. Within a year of enlisting, he became a 1st Lt. and had survived the sinking of the HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean Sea by German bombers launching the first-ever radio-guided bomb; 1,138 men perished.
Gus went on to serve in the China-Burma-India Triangle for the remainder of the war.
After WWII, Gus went on to serve in the newly formed US Air Force and saw duty in post-war Germany and England. In the 1950s, he was assigned to Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands during testing of the hydrogen bomb. Gus' Air Force career took him and his family to many locations, including Alaska and Madrid, Spain, where he was Vice Commander of the Spanish Communications Region. Before retiring in 1970, Gus earned numerous decorations, including both the Army and Air Force Commendation Medals and the Legion of Merit. Gus received a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
In his retirement years, Gus pursued an interest in making stoneware pottery and was on the faculty of the art department of Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos. The pottery that he threw on the wheel with designs applied by his wife Leola were highly sought after by collectors. Gus and Leola were avid genealogists who traveled the US and Europe to research family history, resulting in the publication of three books that Gus typed on a manual typewriter.
Gus is survived by his son, Kenneth Stephen Gikas and his wife Carol; two granddaughters, Lydia Gikas Cook, and her husband Patrick, of Cambridge, MA, and Caroline Gikas, of Chattanooga, TN; sister Marie Blackburn Puckett, of Bartlesville, OK; sister-in-law Barbara Broz and husband James, of Victoria, TX; brother-in-law Dr. Robert Herrin, of Marshall, TX; 13 nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death are his wife of 67 years, Lillian Leola Shafer Gikas, for whom he was the sole caregiver for 10 years of her living with Alzheimer's Disease, and their son, Donne Wayne.
He was also preceded in death by his brothers John (and wife Joyce), Christopher (and wife Peggy), and Theodore Gikas; sister Margaret Herrin; brother-in-law Felton Shafer (and wife Wanda); brother-in-law J.L. Shafer (and wife Lillian).
Gus was a devoted family man and grandfather. A man of highest character with a generous spirit, he was loved and admired by absolutely everyone. His was a life lived right.
Gus will be laid to rest in San Antonio, alongside his wife and son.
The family wishes to express appreciation to Dr. Michael Rolfsen, Dr. Brad Rodrique, nurse Lolita Welch and the staff of Ollie Steele Burden, and The Hospice of Baton Rouge.
Gus was a founding member and president of the Rohna Survivors Memorial Association. For those wishing to make a memorial donation, the family has identified "Rohna: Classified," a feature documentary being produced on the sinking of the Rohna that features Gus as one of the survivor interviewees. (Non-profit tax ID# 04-2738458). www.rohnaclassified.com
Published in The Advocate from Sep. 26 to Sep. 27, 2020.