Walter Jack Bortnick, 84, of 430 E. Bertsch St., Lansford, died May 20, 2006, at St. Lukes Miners Memorial Medical Center, Coaldale. He was the husband of the late Agnes Gazdick Bortnick, who die din 1978, and the late Catherine Baran Smith Bortnick, who died in 2001. Born in Coaldale, he was the son of the late Theodore and Agatha (Kury) Bortnick. He was a 1939 graduate of Coaldale High School. He served in World War II in the Pacific theater as a radar operator on a B-29 Pride of the Yankees Plane from 1942 to 1945. He worked in the mines in Coaldale for several years and then received a journeymans license as an electronic technician. He was employed by Philco Corp. and Zenith Corp. until 1976. He then worked as a self-employed television repairman in Panther Valley until he retired. He was a member of St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, Lansford. He was a member of several bands in 40s and 50s, and played piano and guitar. He was active in the Carbon County Housing Advisory Committee for the Lansford Midrise.

Survivors: Two daughters, Christine Marcolla and her husband Christopher of West Penn Twp., Rita Spinelli and her husband Louis of Franklin Twp.; four grandchildren; three stepdaughters, Karen Angelino in North Carolina, Georgine Patterson and Janet Thayer in Michigan; six stepgrandchildren; sister, Olga Holden of Wallington, N.Y. He was preceded in death by three sisters, Mary Bortnick, Anna Yurchak and Peggy Morrel, and a brother, Nicholas Bortnick.

Services: Tuesday, May 23, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. from Skrabak-Parambo Funeral Home, 210 E. Bertsch St., Lansford, with Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. Tuesday from St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, Lansford. Call 6-8 p.m. today, May 22, at the funeral home. Military interment, Sky-View Memorial Park, Hometown.

Contributions: Could be made to the Lansford American Cancer Society or St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, c/o the funeral home, PA 18232.

Published in the Morning Call from 5/21/2006 - 5/22/2006.