John Hajdik

John Albert Hajdik, 72, of Kovar, Texas, died at home on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.

Mr. Hajdik, also known as "Mr. John" and "Papa John", was born June 16, 1948 in Kellogg, Idaho. He was adopted at the age of four by August and Della Hajdik. He served in the United States Navy after graduating Smithville High School and received a medical discharge after a shipboard accident. After rehabilitating with a back injury, he eventually found work with Smithville Independent School District in maintenance and as a groundskeeper mostly at Barry Field. When he retired from SISD, he was a school bus driver on the Rosanky route.

Mr. Hajdik spent over 35 years in Scouting starting as a Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 97 at Austin's Bergstrom Air Force Base in 1983. He began his tenure as Lost Pines Scout Reservation as a Camp Commissioner in 1989. Thereafter, he joined Smithville's Boy Scout Troop 183 as an Assistant Scoutmaster. Even though he was a disabled veteran, he would pitch his own tent as required. "Mr. John" was a T-183 camper throughout, averaging four to five weekend outings per year.

With 2020 closed by COVID, "Papa John" was at Lost Pines in the summers from 1989 to 2019. He tended to many projects involving maintenance; C.O.P.E. (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience); and driving the bus to Camp Griffith, to the Bastrop State Park golf course, and to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos.

Mr. Hajdik received the Capitol Area Council District Merit Award three times and was a vigil member of the Order of the Arrow, the highest award given by the BSA's honor camper society. In 2009, he was honored with the Eagle Scout Mentor pin by Eagle Scout Garrett Morrell, SHS'10.

He was preceded in death by his parents, August and Della Hajdik.

He is survived by his brother, Charles Hajdik, Sr.; niece, Vicky Hajdik; nephew, Charles Hajdik, Jr.; and several great-nephews and great-nieces.

Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday March 23, 2021 at 2:00pm from St. Paul Catholic Church in Smithville with Father Bernard Hung as celebrant. Burial will be at St. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Kovar.