Robert “Bob” Gana, age 56, of Lagrange Park passed away of complications from diabetes on Tuesday December 20th. Bob leaves his loving wife of 32 years, Debbie (nee Norbut) and compassionate daughters, Ellen and Julie.
Bob was born on July 5th, 1966, and raised in the Southwest Side of Chicago by the late Mary and Ronald Gana. The second youngest of six children, Bob was a rambunctious boy in a house of 4 brothers and 1 sister. Marge (Lenny) Ollearis, Jim Gana, and John Gana and preceded in death by Ron (Virginia) Gana and Ray Gana.
Bob found his calling post-high school when he went to a trade school and became a certified welder. Although the work could be physically grueling, he often told his family that it was the “2nd best decision I ever made”. Bob worked at various companies and was a proud member of many unions throughout his career. In 2011, Bob was hired by General Electric. He began his career with GE in a machine shop only blocks from where he played baseball as a kid. After a few years, he was hired to join the “small but mighty” On Site Repair team that traveled to fix GE equipment in power plants across the United States and the world. Bob was promoted to Machinist several years ago which further expanded the highly specialized work he could be staffed on. Bob could be counted on to provide a good story from his travels across the globe from Taiwan to Switzerland to Brazil to Northern Canada to Louisiana. His favorite trips were always those within the US where he was proud to say that he has worked in almost every state.
Bob’s top passions were outside of his career. Bob and Debbie felt fortunate to raise their daughters Ellen and Julie in LaGrange Park, IL for the last 24 years. Bob enjoyed expanding his talents to different roles to support his daughters. He was a basketball coach, soccer coach, Indian Princess Chief, Nickelodeon enthusiast (thanks to Ellen and Julie), lacrosse fan and attended any activity his daughters participated in. Bob never forgot his roots in Chicago. Together Bob and Debbie enjoyed cheering on the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears with friends, bowling and finding ways to intertwine their very different tastes in music. Bob loved to fish (or as he would say, hunt for Musky) with his longtime group of buddies and spent most of his time off recently looking for the next lake to conquer. He enjoyed fantasy football as well and the comradery with friends that it provided.
Bob proudly watched his nieces and nephews grow up and enjoyed supporting their activities as well. Bob is survived by Emilia Ollearis, Katie (Ryan) Blais, Jack and Josh Gana, Maddie, Danny and Riley Norbut and Josh, Laney, and Abbie Boike. Beloved son-in-law of Nancy Norbut and Carl Norbut and fun-loving brother-in-law of Darrin (Michelle) Norbut and Dolores (Vic) Boike. Bob’s grin and colorful take on life will be deeply missed.
Debbie, Ellen, Julie and Ross Leavitt (Julie’s longtime boyfriend) would like to thank all their friends and family that have supported them so much over the last few very difficult days. In addition, they are grateful to Bob’s managers and colleagues at GE that have worked around the clock to get Bob home from the job he was on when he passed. Debbie and Bob met when she was 9 years old when John and he came to play street football with the kids on Normandy. It is difficult to imagine next steps without hearing Bob’s opinion (yes, he had an opinion on everything) but Debbie, her daughters and Ross will focus on the good memories to carry them through.
A visitation will be held on Thursday, December 29, 2022 from 3 to 8pm at Adolf Funeral Home, 7000 S Madison St, Willowbrook, IL 60527. Family and friends will meet at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 124 N Spring Ave, LaGrange, IL 60525 for a 10am funeral mass on Friday December 30, 2022. Interment will follow at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside.
In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to CURE for Epilepsy Research, https://www.cureepilepsy.org, or the Gana family.
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