Miroslav Stefanovic

Miroslav (Miro) Stefanovic was born in Arilje, Serbia, Yugoslavia on June 10, 1933. He was born into a family of hard workers. Miro was an excellent student and was very good at math and the hard sciences. And he was also a very good athlete. World War II (WW2) changed everything when the Nazi’s invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April of 1941. By 1944 Miro at age 11 was involved in the Nazi resistance along with his older brother Petar Stefanovic. Petar became a well decorated Yugoslav hero of WW2 and helped Miro get established in the new Tito government. As a result, Miro was accepted to the Yugoslav Naval Academy in the early 1950’s. He was studying to be a naval engineer and was always creating and inventing. He graduated with very high marks and ended up being an officer for the Yugoslavian Navy. As time moved on Miro became discouraged with the communist direction that Yugoslavia was heading, so he decided to escape in 1955 at the young age of 22. His escape was a miracle and could be made into a movie. Miro wanted to come to the USA, but it was too difficult during the McCarthy Era. Instead, Miro headed for South America as did many Europeans after WW1 & WW2. He finally landed upon the beautiful country of Chile. In Chile mid 1955 he started a new life, a new engineering career, then met and married the love of his life, Hilda Violeta Figueroa. They met at the Chilean Jesuit University called the Universidad Cattolica in Valparaiso, Chile on the Pacific Ocean. They married in 1957 and had a son Randy in 1958 and Mike in 1960. In 1964 the family immigrated to the United States of America, and in 1965 had their third son Milan. Miro was a hard worker in the steel and hinge business (being issued a patent for optimization of hinge manufacturing). He always took care of his family and encouraged his three sons to carry on his strong work ethic.

He was a believer in God and loved his family. Miro had an exciting life and traveled the world with his beautiful wife, Hilda, and his family. He was a natural leader and the patriarch of the Stefanovic Family. Miro is survived by his wife, Hilda. They were married for 68 years! Miro is also survived by his three sons, Randy Stefanovic (wife, Tammy); Mike Stefanovic (wife, Terry); and Milan Stefanovic (wife, Kelly); and his grandchildren, Gina Sumbles (husband, Nick); Christopher Stefanovic, Nick Stefanovic, Tracy Brandenburg (husband, Caleb); Bradley Stefanovic, Matthew Stefanovic, and Hannah Stefanovic; as well as his great grandkids, Theo Sumbles , Lucy Sumbles, Roman Sumbles, Lila Brandenburg, and Leah Brandenburg. He was preceded in death by his parents and all but one sibling, as well as a granddaughter, Olivia Stefanovic.

Miro passed away peacefully from natural causes with family at his bedside. We will all miss him dearly.