Posted by Bill Spracher on February 26, 2022:

Remembering John Pavlick '70 (1948-2008) As one of John's devoted roommates in Company A-3, I decided long ago to write a memorial tribute to this outstanding soldier and gentleman, but just recently obtained the data I needed from his beloved wife Olga. She understandably was hit hard by his untimely death at the tender age of 60 caused by one of the most virulent, fast-moving diseases the world has ever known'mesothelioma, a form of cancer related to asbestos exposure. Olga has made it her life's crusade to help defeat this scourge so others won't have to suffer the same fate (the Virginia license plate on her car reads "H8MESO)." Ironically, a decade earlier I discovered the couple was living in the DC area based on a license plate. One day I was driving home from work at the Pentagon down the always congested I-395 when I zipped by a white SUV with a plate bearing the USMA crest and the number "JPP-70." It dawned on me a couple miles later that this could be my old roommate. I did some investigating, found the Pavlicks' phone number, contacted them, and arranged to meet for dinner for the first time in ages! One aspect of John's untimely passing resulted in an action of which I am proud to boast. I sing in the West Point Alumni Glee Club, and we often perform for funeral services of USMA graduates at Arlington National Cemetery. The first-ever "Honor Sing," as we call such events, the Club ever did was to honor John at the civilian cemetery in Fairfax, VA, where he was laid to rest, with renditions of the "Alma Mater" and "Mansions of the Lord." Since then, sadly, we have had to perform at countless more services, to include one for a former USMA Supe, at least three for former Army Chiefs of Staff, and even a handful for our own rapidly aging singers and their spouses. John Joseph Pavlick, Jr., came to West Point in the summer of 1966 from Phoenixville, PA, a western suburb of Philadelphia, where he graduated from Malvern High School, an all-male Catholic institution. However, he had moved around frequently in his young life due to being a military brat, and his family had not lived in the Quaker State long before their eldest headed off to college. John was born on March 30, 1948, in Wurzburg, Germany, the product of an Army MP father and a Navy mother who outranked him (as it should be in the modern military!). John was the oldest of three sons. Tom was a year younger and Stephen eight years younger; both are now deceased, as are their parents. Once they began dating, John quickly became close to Olga's family (the Rampolla clan of Spain) and remained a dedicated family man the rest of his life. In fact, her mother Dolores, who is still going strong at age 93, lived with Olga for several years following John's death and now resides with Maria, Olga's twin sister, in Florida. John and Olga met the classic West Point way, at a cadet mixer! Olga visited campus with her friends from the Katharine Gibbs School in Montclair, NJ, in January 1968 during yearling year. She told me John was her "one and only," though she couldn't swear that was the case for him, as his dating history in high school remains a bit murky. Nonetheless, John often repeated the story that after the magical mixer he returned to the barracks and immediately informed his roommates he had just met the girl he was going to marry! The rest is history, as they say. Many of our classmates still remark to this day how ravishing Olga looked gracing the pages of the 1970 Howitzer as the unit's representative in the Homecoming court. I personally have fond memories of being "adopted" by John and Olga as their "son" (she still calls me that to this day) while attending Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox, KY, after graduation leave. Not only did the Pavlicks regularly attend the wild parties hosted by our group of bachelors living in a court off-post in Radcliff (on-post quarters were unavailable for our cohort of mostly USMA classmates, with a few ROTC types thrown in to control the Rabble), but at least once a week they invited me, and sometimes others, to supper at their quaint little pink trailer only a mile down the road, where we enjoyed delicious food and drink, watched old movies, and reminisced about how much we all missed being at the Academy (not!). As a cadet, John was a superb student (quickly earned the stars adorning his collar), flourishing particularly in the math, science, and engineering courses that dominated our curriculum in those days and which nicely complemented his love of all things sci-fi. He was a "Star Trek" buff, and later in life also became hooked on "Star Wars." Already having mastered the German language in high school, he tackled Russian as a cadet without breaking a sweat. When I asked his wife if she knew who or what had motivated John to become a cadet in the first place, she said his dad was his greatest inspiration and that both father and son were highly patriotic. His family also raised John to be very religious (Catholic father, Protestant mother), and for nearly all his life he attended mass every Sunday without fail. His hometown priest, who also presided over their June 1970 wedding in Mountainside, NJ, where Olga grew up, was another key role model. The Pavlicks and I were stationed in Germany concurrently. I was in a tank battalion in Bamberg with the 4th/1st Armored Division, while John was in an armored cavalry squadron in Fulda (the famous "Gap" through which the Soviet hordes were expected to invade) with the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which reflagged in 1971 to the 11th ACR. I recall visiting them in Fulda when they had only one small child born in Germany. That was Keith, who is now 50 and lives with his family in Hilton Head, SC. Later Mark came into the world in Mountainside. He's now 46 and lives with his family in Gainesville, VA, not far from his mother in Bristow, which is near Manassas in suburban Prince William County. If John were still alive, he and Olga together would be doting on their five grandchildren ranging in ages from 20 to 2. He loved to cook for his family, sample the local cuisine of wherever he was stationed, eat all kinds of food (but was especially fond of Italian and Greek), and enjoy a cold beer after doing some gardening. John was an avid sports fan, having run track in high school and always enjoying the famous Penn Relays. All his life he cheered on the Philadelphia Eagles pro football team and Army, Penn, and Duke in all college sports (the latter connection via one of his sons). John's hobbies were reading, home improvement projects, hosting parties for friends and work colleagues, and most of all hanging out with his kids and grandkids. One of our company mates offered a vignette after being triggered by another who recalled John's frequent mention of the Penn Relays. He said he had forgotten that he "literally ran in John's shoes." He participated in intramural track as a yearling and John suggested he could run faster using John's high school track spikes rather than the standard issue shoes. The brilliant Cadet Pavlick was correct. His company mate reported beating a couple of high school state champions (wondering why they weren't on the varsity team) while wearing John's special shoes. The same friend also reported having been introduced to Janis Joplin by John. He related the time John brought a record album into his barracks room lamenting no one else liked it but he was certain this individual would. He wasn't sure why, perhaps it was because the two had already established the fact they shared a taste for the "Philly sound" of early 1960s rock and R&B. He was right; the two quickly became a 2-man Janis fan club! In the mid-1970s, John fulfilled the second part of his lifelong dream. The first had been to be a career Army officer; the second was to become a lawyer. He was accepted into the Army's fully-funded law school program and earned his JD degree at the University of Pennsylvania near his old stomping grounds. He always said his favorite assignment was at Fort Riley, KS, because of the fine people with which he served there. He also had a stateside tour at Fort Carson, CO. Later he spent many years in the Pentagon working for both the Army Judge Advocate General and the General Counsel. Upon retirement in 1990 as an LTC, he was hired by the prestigious Venable law firm in downtown DC, where he was a partner for 18 years and hosted at least two class luncheons I attended. When I asked Olga what sorts of legal activities he was involved in, she confessed she didn't really know as he never discussed work at home. He was singularly focused on family. To my query as to the greatest legacy John would say he left behind, she asserted it was undoubtedly his two sons, as he was justifiably proud of how they had matured into such outstanding family men like their dad. John was never bitter about the medical cards dealt to him. Olga often tells the story about their last visit with his oncologist in New York City, who broke the bad news that his demise was imminent. John calmly shook the doctor's hand, told him how much he appreciated all he had done for him and his family, and then within a matter of hours moved on to eternity surrounded by loved ones on November 13, 2008. Olga insisted her husband was never afraid of death. His credo was that we should never do anything to hurt others and he certainly lived up to that standard. According to his dear wife, which was evident to those of us who knew and loved him, John was a truly thoughtful, nice person. "JP," as we in A-3 referred to this no-nonsense model cadet and soldier, was one of a kind and is sorely missed by all. Bill Spracher USMA '70

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