Gil Morava, long-time Prospect Heights resident, dies at 81
Gil Morava lived in Prospect Heights for 58 years and was a charter member of the Lions Club that built the first swimming pool in the city.
However, his name is synonymous in the city and surrounding Northwest suburbs with the Gary Morava Recreation Center, known commonly as the Morava Center and dedicated in memory of his son.
Gil Morava passed away on Tuesday at the age of 81.
His wife, Frances, says the Morava Center and its location hold special meaning for the family, beyond keeping the memory of her son alive.
"It was dedicated on the same corner where the Lions Club built the first swimming pool," Frances Morava says. "That corner is very special to us."
She said her husband took pride in seeing all the families that gathered around its ball fields, indoor sports facilities and outdoor pool and water slide each summer.
"It was a great honor when they dedicated it in Gary's name," Frances Morava adds.
The recreation building was in the midst of construction in 1974 when Gary Morava suffered an accident in gymnastics that took his life. As a scholarship athlete at Southern Illinois University, he had been warming up on a mini-trampoline, trying to complete a 2¾
-tuck somersault.
He hit his head on the landing, which severed his spinal chord. His death devastated the family and the local gymnastics scene, which saw him as a favorite to make the Pan American Games that year and the 1976 Olympic team.
Within two years of his passing, however, Prospect Heights Park District officials dedicated their new recreation center in Gary Morava's name, giving residents a full size basketball court, luxury locker rooms with saunas, a fitness center, dance room, meeting rooms with full-size kitchens, and racquetball courts.
It also included a new pool, complete with a zero-depth area, water slide and children's spray area, which replaced the original one funded by Lions Club members in the same location.
The Lions Club chartered in Prospect Heights in 1954, two years after the Morava family moved to the area.
"When we moved here, there were only 700 people," Frances Morava says. "It was very rural."
They moved to the Northwest suburbs, where Gil Morava's great uncle, Wally Morava, ran Morava Stationery in downtown Des Plaines. However, Gil Morava followed the lead set by his grandfather and he apprenticed as a glazier.
He ultimately worked for the Des Plaines Glass Co., which specializes in glass storefronts for retail centers, mid-size office, education facilities and government buildings.
Gil Morava is survived by his wife, Frances; two daughters, Jane (Mark) Malouf and Nancy (Mike) Raiman; and two grandsons.
Visitation takes place from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at Matz Funeral Home, 410 E. Rand Road in Mount Prospect. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. at St. Alphonsus Church, 411 N. Wheeling Road in Prospect Heights.