First Posted: 8/9/2014
John Jude Bolin was a man of many titles.
He served on the Wyoming Area School Board, was a firefighter and the recreation director for Wyoming Borough, and he ran his his mother’s old flower shop, Lucille’s Flowers.
In Sept. 2011, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away two months ago on June 5 at the age of 45 after nearly a three-year battle with the disease.
Wyoming Borough Mayor Bob Boyer was a personal friend of Bolin’s and knew that with everything Bolin did for the community, something needed to be done to honor his late pal. It was decided to rename the Butler Street Park in his memory.
On Aug. 9 almost 100 people gathered at the Butler Street Park show their appreciation to Bolin and be there for the official unveiling of the John Jude Bolin Memorial Park.
Boyer said it was the best way to honor his friend.
“I think it was really a testament to John’s character, his memory and his service,” said Boyer. “We had a good showing here today of his friends, his family and his neighbors and the people that John worked and served with. We’re really happy to honor his memory.”
The Butler Street Park in Wyoming was one of Bolin’s favorite places in the borough, so it was fitting that the park be named after him.
According to Boyer, at Christmastime Bolin would climb the park’s highest tree to hang Christmas lights on it saying, “These lights needs to be up here!”
The renaming of the park in Bolin’s memory was kicking around in Boyer’s head for a good while after his passing, but when people started calling suggesting the park should in fact be renamed, Boyer knew it needed to be done.
“I had the idea kind of floating in my head and I had started the wheels in motion,” said Boyer. “Shortly after his passing a lot of people started calling saying that we should rename the park. I guess it was kind of a spontaneous thing; a lot of us were thinking the same way on the same page of doing it.”
It’s one thing to go through life losing a friend, but it’s another thing to go through life losing someone who held your heart dearly.
Danielle Tirpak was Bolin’s girlfriend. She had known him for almost 16 years and they were together for nearly 12.
She said she took the word of his diagnosis like anyone else would, even quoting what Bolin would say in a time like that.
“When you first get that diagnosis, as he would say, and I agree, ‘You feel like you get hit in the head with a baseball bat,’” said Tirpak. “You’re numb, you can’t believe it and then you feel like you have no hope, but then you try and find that hope and that’s what you stick with. If you don’t have that hope, you’re just going to get depressed, so that’s what we went on.”
In his three-year struggle with cancer, Tirpak said that Bolin did not take it lying down, and that he continued with his everyday duties like there was nothing wrong.
She said it all goes back to that positive attitude he kept through it all.
“John was amazing,” said Tirpak. “I don’t know if I could ever be like this, but he just had such a positive attitude through it all. He kept going, he kept working, he never missed a meeting – he worked till the end. …That was really a blessing that he was able to do that because he was able to live his life even though he was sick and he had this terrible diagnosis. He still was able to live his life, which made it so much easier for the whole family.”
The renaming of the park meant a lot to Tirpak and Bolin’s family, and she knew how grateful he would be if he were still around.
“That is something he’d be so proud of,” said Tirpak. “He did love this park, and he loved Butler Street. That’s why he loved doing everything in the community, to help people. That was his passion, being in the community and helping people in the community when he could.”
For now, like everyone else who was close with Bolin, Tirpak is just taking it day by day.
To say John Marianacci enjoyed working with Bolin on the school board would be the understatement of the century. They were first elected in 2005 and began their third four-year term last year.
“They called us the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin,” said Marianacci. “We went to as many school functions together as we could. We went to banquets, everything. He was always the little brother I never had.”
Marianacci is five years older than Bolin and they had been best friends since they were teenagers. They first met when Bolin was working in his mother’s flower shop.
Through nine years on the school board, Marianacci and Bolin had seen and accomplished a lot, but it is their friendship and teamwork through it all that will stick with Marianacci the most moving forward.
“I will always remember our friendship and all the times we spent together,” said Marianacci. “As far as (what I’ll remember most on) the school board, (we were) always working through everything. We always had the kids in mind and we never forgot about the taxpayers. We put a lot of work in and countless hours. He was a good friend and we confided in each other on many issues. He was something; he was a great man.”
Bolin’s brother Carmen Bolin will fill his seat on the school board until Dec. 2015, when a special election will be held to fill the vacancy for the remaining two years before the next four-year election.
Marianacci was reluctant to continue serving on the school board without his close friend, but before he passed Bolin told him to keep going.
“It was a tough decision to continue,” said Marianacci. “I was there with Johnny when he passed on and it took a lot of thinking and a lot of input from family, and friends, that Johnny would want me to continue because even before he passed, I said, ‘John, what am I going to do without you?’ and he said ‘John, don’t take any (crap).’”
Maranacci said he knew if the roles were reversed Bolin would continue to serve on the school board in his absence.
“I would expect the same of him should something had ever happened to me,” said Marianacci. “I will continue to serve and I will always have him in my mind.”
