Jaromir Mach

A loving husband to Kim, devoted father to his children, son Jaeger, oldest daughter Megan & youngest daughter Natasha, he was a caring grandfather to Lilia, a true brother to his siblings; seven brothers, three sisters, he leaves behind many nieces, nephews, along with so many dear family members & friends.

Mira passed away suddenly over the Holiday season from a heart attack. He will be missed by many people that his life has touched over the years.

Born in the Czech Republic on June 2. 1941 died in Seattle December 29. 2002

Funeral services to be held

January 6, 2003 at 1 PM

Please in lieu of flowers we ask you to pay tribute to him through the

Fisherman's memorial Foundation

P.O. Box 17356

Seattle, WA 98107

www.seattlefishermensmemorial.org

Remember Me

To the living, I am gone.

To the sorrowful, I will never return.

To the angry, I was cheated.

But to the happy, I am at peace.

And to the faithful, I have never left.

I cannot speak, but I can listen.

I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.

So as you stand upon a shore,

Gazing at a beautiful sea - remember Me.

As you look upon a flower

And admire its simplicity-remember Me.

Remember Me in your heart, your thoughts,

and your memories of the times we loved,

the times we cried, the times we fought, the times we laughed.

For if you think of me,

I will never have gone.

Jaromir ''Mira'' Mach was born on June 2, 1941 in Jihlavka, a small village in the former Czechoslovakia. He was the son of a farmer and the sixth of eleven children. His family often struggled for food and necessities, having lost most of their farmland to the communists. Mira's father did his best to provide for his children. He believed in the importance of a higher education and sent Mira to college to study electrical engineering. After graduating, Mira worked as an engineer in a factory, and then entered the army under the communists, serving two years of mandatory duty. Mira yearned for freedom. A skilled and avid outdoorsman, he often escaped to the mountains with his friends and brothers, where they found freedom in the beauty of nature.

Soon freedom of another kind came within his grasp. Mira's passion for the mountains led him, his brother Ladi, and his good friend V?clav to Yugoslavia for a holiday with a climbing club. The pleasant hiking opportunity took a more serious turn when the three young men decided to risk crossing the Alps for Austria. After two days of hiking, they reached Austria, and there, for the first time, they tasted freedom.

Mira and his fellow travelers began their new life with a dream to reach America. Their dream came true on December 4, 1965 when they arrived in New York. Mira entered the United States with a rucksack and a Red Cross suitcase. Nearly everything he owned had been donated to him in Austria by the Red Cross.

While in New York City, Mira saved some money, bought a car, and took off for the West with this friend V?clav. They crossed the vast stretch of the United States, at one point finding themselves, with unexpected delight, in a Czech farming community in Ohio. Continuing on their journey, they soon ended up on the West Coast, in Seattle. Mira planned to stay in Seattle only temporarily, but by the time he reached the city he was out of money and forced to find work. He worked various odd jobs. During that time, the city wooed him with its charms and beautiful natural surroundings. He fell in love with Seattle and decided to stay.

Working as an electrical engineer at Lockheed, building navy ships, Mira met a salmon fisherman, a gillnetter. Life at sea sounded exciting and full of adventure, and Mira decided to buy a fishing boat. Can you imagine a boy from a tiny landlocked country in Central Europe, his first time on a boat' He embarked for Neah Bay during the opening night of gillnet fishing season without even telling his brother Ladi. He was alone with only an old-fashioned mariner's compass, some nautical charts, and no radio to call for help.

After Mira's first perilous night at sea he happily took a lot of advice from experienced Norwegian and Croatian fishermen. He worked hard and made money and lived the dangerous life of a fisherman. One stormy autumn night, a log gouged his boat and the boat sank within minutes. Mira had only enough time to put on his wetsuit. The tide was in his favor and he survived by floating on a plank, carried by the tide, until he could swim to shore. By the time he reached the rocky landing in Kingston, he was battling exhaustion and hypothermia. He had fought enormous waves and 35 MPH winds, lying in frigid water for over six hours.

After the shipwreck, Mira had to build a new boat. He named his new boat after his favorite ski area in Utah - Snowbird. Mira liked to work hard, and he played hard too. Since childhood, he enjoyed many outdoor sports with his brothers, especially downhill skiing. Because the fishing season extended only into late summer, Mira fished in the summer and worked as a ski patrol in the winter. Mira and his brother Ladi served as ski patrols at the local ski area of Alpental. The two brothers were so daring and brave that the ski area named a dizzyingly steep run in the backcountry after them. A chute that turns into a waterfall during the springtime, ''Mach's Coulair,'' is still pictured on official trail maps.

Mira braved the waters as he braved the slopes, constantly seeking challenges. Because the fishing in Puget Sound did not look promising, he decided to expand his fishing into Bristol Bay, Alaska. There he bought a boat, the Molly Brown, with his savings. Mira took his brother Paul onboard as a crew member for his maiden voyage in Alaskan waters. On their first night, the boat ran out of gas and the tide pulled the boat out to sea with ferocious strength. As the boat continued to drift, strange sounds filled the air. The water around the boat began to churn violently, and mysterious gray forms rose out of the depths, spouting great jets of water skyward. The Molly Brown was encircled by a pod of hunchback whales. The whales swam so close to the deck that the brothers could reach out to touch their gray flanks. The whales' enormous power rocked the Molly Brown with a force that nearly tipped the boat over, and Mira began to panic, thinking it was the end. As in earlier times, and as in many times after, he prevailed.

Step by step, Mira saved and worked hard. As time passed, he invested in the 100-foot crabbing vessel Pacific Sun. He crabbed in winter, and continued to catch salmon in the summer with his brothers Ladi and Paul, and with his son Jaeger and nephews. The three brothers formed a formidable team, known among the other fisherman as the ''Strong Triad.'' Mira, a top-grossing fisherman and perennial highliner, was the leader of this special brotherhood. He always loved the adventure and freedom that fishing allowed him. He loved to stand on the deck feeling the cold air and the freezing spray of waves on his face.

From Kim:

Mira and I met on a blind date through our mutual friends Rick and Mary Mezich; they kept telling us both that they wanted us to meet. They really felt our personalities would compliment each other, I was skeptical, but was still very anxious to meet him.

We finally agreed to go out to dinner on a double date...by the end of the evening it was truly love at first sight for both of us.

Mira jokingly asked me to ''marry'' him, presenting me with a paper ring,

I being a true romantic accepted his proposal?. half joking but, little did he know... I too was serious.

It really seemed as though we had known each other forever.

It was fate meeting each other...Mira coming from clear around the world ... He just happened to end up in Seattle ... where I had lived ?. With me dreaming of far away places my whole life.

Well, we decided to meet the next day after our ''blind date'' to see if we still felt the same way about each other. Mira picked my seven year old son Jaeger & me up at my house, we then went to pick up his four year old daughter Megan up at her mom's, so we could all spend the day together.

Mira, ran to the door, picked up his beautiful daughter Megan, and brought her back to the car.

She was truly the joy in his life. I always admired him as a father that is one of the things that really attracted me to him; he always made time for her. Mira would stop his important conversations on the telephone to answer her questions or just to give her a hug.

He even named his business after her; M.B.M. Fisheries my baby Megan & his Bristol Bay boat the

''F.V. Megan M.''

Later I would tell my late mother ''I just never thought I could love someone else's child as much as I love Megan''

It was more than crystal clear to both of us that when we picked the kids up that day

February 26, 1986 we were a family?we all felt it!

Sixteen years after that blind date I must say we've never been apart for even a day other than for the times he went to Alaska fishing.

Mira also took Jaeger in as his only son.

Never complaining about the burden of raising someone else's child, he felt Jaeger was his son from the very first, he was proud to be his father and thinks very highly of him. Jaeger has been going to Bristol Bay with his Dad Mira since he was 13 years old. Mira was excited to teach him the business of fishing in the Bay hoping to eventually hand it down to Jaeger like his brother had done with their son's.

I admire Mira for all of this, Jaeger could not have been blessed with a better father.

The only void we felt in our family was a void that our little Natasha filled; she is a special joy to all of us, certainly a bond that cemented the family once and for all. Mira absolutely adored her; it was a second chance to spend time with a daughter, especially now that his life had slowed down some. Believe it or not I talked him into CO/coaching the 3 rd grade basketball team at her school this year, unfortunately the first game is next Saturday, but they got a lot of practices in together.

He was truly a special father to all three children, I don't think I could have imagined a better father; he will be miss immensely by all of us.

Over the years we have enjoyed a lot of happy times with our family & friends sharing our good fortune with them as much as possible. We have opened up our lives for all to see... The good and the bad not masking the hard times with only the good, we are a real family with trials, hardships & problems just like most families. We have been strong holding on to each other through all of the challenges we have been faced with over the last few years?.our love and closeness have helped us to make it through. So now... I must say good-bye to my best friend and the love of my life, Mira.

I am not sure if you knew how much I appreciated it but, I have one thing to say to you THANK YOU so much for my beautiful life with you,

I'll always love you?.

Please visit http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/102490_mach02.shtml for news article.