Louis Park Strazisar, 63, of Mattawan, Mich., formerly of Richland Township, went to be with the Lord on the 24th day of September, at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich.

He was the son of the late Louis and Betty (Buttenfield) Strazisar.

He was the beloved husband of Royene "Rene" (Stirling) Strazisar; father of Bradley Park Strazisar and his wife, Kim, of Cary, N.C.; brother of Judie Geortz and her husband, Lee "Bumpy," of Richland Township; and uncle of Sue Wolfe and her husband, Chris, of Butler, Bethany (Jones) Maddix and her husband, Dylan, of Cranberry Township and Doug Jones of Denver, Colo. Also surviving are a nephew, an aunt, several cousins and many, many friends.

Lou was an active student at Richland High School, class of '63. He participated in baseball and track and was co-captain of the football team. He also served the school as class president his sophomore, junior and senior years and as an officer of the Varsity Club and was involved in wood shop and welding.

These activities served him well after high school, when he earned a mechanical drafting diploma from the Western Pennsylvania Institute of Technology. His first job as a draftsman had him working on a special project for the Department of Defense.

He entered the Air Force in 1967 and was honorably discharged with the rank of staff sergeant from the 911th Air Corps Reserve Unit stationed at the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport.

After the armed services, Lou started a long career in the industrial engineering sector, working in sales and executive management for many companies including Airco and Diametrics. He was president of Kempii Inc., a Finnish-based welding firm and most recently retired from Mactech Inc. after 20 years of service as a project manager.

In between school and career, Lou loved traveling, "seeing what was there to see." He took great pride in his family heritage, sharing his stories and experiences with friends, family and new people across the country.

He was a car enthusiast — building demolition cars in high school, building and riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles and watching Indy car racing. He also enjoyed the beauty of nature from the great outdoors to working on his home landscaping. His love for football continued through the years as he would keep his eye on talented players and watch their careers grow.

<B>STRAZISAR</B> — The family of Louis Park Strazisar, who died Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, will welcome friends from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the <B>Schellhaas Funeral Home Ltd.</B>, Bakerstown. Services will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home with the Rev. Jean Smith officiating. Interment will be held privately in West Union Cemetery, Pine Township.In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations be made to Disabled American Veterans, www.dav.org.Please visit the funeral home Web site at www.schellhaasfh.com for further information and to offer online condolences.