American Serb History 101

• Born in Belotic, Srbia on November l, 1924 to the parents of Leposava and Milinko. Momo was baptized in the Bela Crkva near Valjevo.

• In 1948, Momo received the first of two Gramata’s for his service to the Serbian Orthodox church. Bishop Sava of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Germany and Austria presented him the first of his Gramata’s in the camp in Lingen.

• Although he never drove in the US, he never missed a Church service, even during extreme Chicago blizzards.

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Read on to learn more about this wonderful man!

+++ Memory Eternal!  Vjecnaja Pamjat! +++

This information is from his son, Mike "Crown" Savatic, who placed this on Facebook on April 5, 2020, in memory of the date his father, Momchilo Savatic passed away, April 5, 2003.

"I post the following details for my children, so they can hopefully put life suffering into perspective:

(And I, Mim Bizic, post this so ALL children can learn of his Bravery, Fortitude, and Loyalty!)

"On this date 17 years ago, my father passed away. His memory remains eternal but more importantly his memory serves as a reminder of what a tough life actually is, especially during this CV-19 situation where we think, we have it bad.

"Imagine losing your mother as a toddler, joining the army at 16, losing your arm at the age of 17, enduring WWII where 85 million people perished, enduring another 6 years in a displaced person camps, not being able to see your homeland or family for 50 years, and then spending the last 6 years of your life unable to walk and use either of your arms?

"How many of us could endure those challenges yet still have a career working third shift for 43 years without a sick day? How about earning two Hierarchical Gramata’s from the Serbian Orthodox Church on two different continents? How about never missing a church service in 50 years? ….it sure gives you a different perspective on the level of suffering during our current pandemic."

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Momchilo Savatic

• He was the youngest of four children, his brothers Voja and Pera and his sister Zivka.

• After the loss of his mother during early childhood, his sister Zivka served as his surrogate mother.

• He grew up in a small house in the hills of Belotic until the invasion of his homeland where he joined the local Dobrovoljci forces under the leadership Dmitrije Ljotic.

• In October of 1941 at the age of 17 while defending his homeland, he was shot in the wrist requiring field amputation.

• His injury required five additional amputations due to infection and the poor medical conditions in the field and in a Jewish Synagogue that served as a field hospital.• His near-death experience lasted nearly six months surviving only through his strong believe in the Orthodox faith.

• The next nine years he spent moving from hospital to hospital and from Displacement Camp to Displacement Camp.

• The first of the Displacement Camps was in Eboli, Italy with daily church services that Momo served as Pojac.

• In the displacement camps, he met many of his long time friends and continued his service to both his faith and his Church.

• In 1947, Momo along with many of his Serbian friends was transferred to the Displaced Person Camp in Lingen Germany.

• In 1948, Momo received the first of two Gramata’s for his service to the Serbian Orthodox church. Bishop Sava of the SOC in Germany and Austria presented him the first of his Gramata’s in the camp in Lingen.

(Continued above)

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Everyone, EVERYONE should read this story! I now remember meeting him when I spoke in Chicago! Joey (Jovo) Puhar introduced him to me.  I just LOVE his story!

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Momchilo, Continued: 

• On October 13, 1951, Momo landed on Ellis Island on the USNS General J.H. MC RAE ship that departed from Bremerhaven on October 3rd of 1951. He was sponsored by the Stokovic family of Libertyville, Illinois.

• Momo found his way to Chicago leading him to the Serbian Community and Church on Schiller Street where he began his devoted service as Church Cantor (Pojac).

• In 1951, Momo went to work for the Barr Company, where he worked the third shift. This arrangement allowed him the opportunity to attend, assist and sing responses to all church services, both during the week and on weekends.

• Although he never drove in the US, he never missed a Church service, even during extreme Chicago blizzards.

• Through the Serbian community he met and married his wife Ruzica in 1960.

• In 1961 his son Mihailo was born.

• In 1968 his daughter Jelena was born.

• In 1968 Momo and Ruzica sponsored the immigration of Ruzica's sister Jelka. In the US. Jelka married and eventually gave birth two daughters Nada and Tanja.

• In 1985 his son Mike married Nada Dragin.

• Mica and Nada have six children Marko, Mimi, Tali, Kaca, Kiki and Stevo

• In 1993 his daughter Jelena married Brent Logerquist * Jelena and Brent have two children: Jason and Luke

• In 1994 Momo retired from Barr Company, after 43 years of service and never missing a day of work.

• In 1996 Momo was awarded his second Gramata by Metropolitan Christopher for his devoted service to the Serbian Orthodox Church in America. Momo served as a Pojac for over 50 years and was recognized as a benefactor to the building of the HRC church and hall on Redwood Drive.

• In April of 1998 Momo was striken by the first of many debilitating strokes but still attended church regularly. Having lost his right arm during the second world war and having his left side debilitated by the numerous strokes, left Momo in a condition of needing help to perform even the basic human functions for six years.

• On April 4th of 2003, Momo passed away in Libertyville, Illinois.

• On April 7th of 2003, Momo was laid to rest at St Sava Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois.

• On September 21, 2003, Momo was recognized for contributions by the Circle of Serbian Sisters of Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois.

• In 2004, the Serbian Singing Federation recognized Momo for his sacrificed time and effort to preserve the strength of the Serbian Singing Federation.

WHAT A STORY!!!!

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Granddaughter Kristina!

...The world just became a little brighter with the news that Katarina (Kaca) Savatic was recently accepted into the PhD program at Northwestern University. She will begin her highest level of academic studies and continue her success with the study of her master’s degree focus on geology. Katarina is no lightweight in this category of expertise. She has just completed her master’s area of concentration with her graduate project of looking at Permian-Triassic boundary in a continental setting in Queensland Australia. She hopes to understand the factors causing the onset of this mass extinction event through analysis of subsurface data and comparing her findings to current work being done on similar basin in New South Wales.

"Katarina has also worked as a teaching and research assistant. She has completed work for a master’s degree in Geology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where her studies focused on looking to understand the paleoclimatic and sedimentological changes that occurred roughly 252 million years ago, where 95% of all taxa went extinct at the end-Permian mass extinction.