Hugo Fleischman Sr

Hugo Raymond Fleischman Sr. was born June 24th, 1932 in Black Oak, Indiana to parents Hugo and Florence Fleischman who were of meager means along with siblings Marie,Emma, Elizabeth and James who were born before him and Leon, Frederick, Patricia, and Carol who were born after him. Other children were born to Florence but they did not survive into adulthood. His father, Hugo Sr passed away shortly before his birth in 1932 and after a time his brother Emil assumed the role of father and husband until his death in 1948. Hugo Junior (as he was called by family) joined the Army in 1949 and continued to help his mother as best he could until her death in April 1974. He served during the Korean War in Tokyo Japan at Camp Drew as a medic until 1953. While in the service Hugo Jr. married his teenage sweetheart Dorothy Ann O'mara on May 16th, 1951. They were married 46 years until Dorthy's death in Jan 1998. They had five children, Rebecca Marie, Hugo Jr., Daniel Timothy, David Andrew, and Matthew Thomas. They also had 4 grandchildren: Jennifer and Adam born to their oldest daughter Rebecca and her husband Martin Balcazar, and Stephen and Kacy Ann born to their son David and his wife at the time, Karen Weldon. (David and Karen's children were born after Dorothy's passing.) Also born to Hugo Sr. were two great grandchildren Thomas and Samantha who were born to Rebecca's daughter, Jennifer and her husband Eric Rozenich.

Hugo and Dorothy Fleischman resided in Chicago early in their marriage where Hugo worked as a postman for a short time until 1964 when they moved to Sauk Village, IL. Hugo had already changed jobs by that time working as a switchman for Erie Lackawanna railroad system and then onto Erie Western until the end of the 1970's. From there he went on disability retirement with the Railroad Retirement Board until his death.
After his wife's passing Hugo moved to Reston, Virginia to live with his two sons, Matthew and Hugo Jr. until 2011 when he moved to Beecher, IL for two years. While in Reston, he made many friends at Lake Anne in Reston where he enjoyed the company of Bill Foster. The two became very close and shared the company of many of their contemporaries until they slowly began to pass away along with Bill in 2005. His death really devastated Hugo and it took some time to get over. In 2008 his son, Hugo Jr. married Andrea Bowman who became a major part of Hugo Sr's life and shared a very close father/daughter relationship with him, especially when he returned to Virginia in 2013 after having suffered a mild stroke in Dec 2012. For the rest of his life he lived in Front Royal, Va., making new friends there where they met for a veteran's breakfast every Wed. morning. He was loved and pampered and very content with friends and family there along with being able to travel to many places around the country, including a cruise to Mexico in 2018, that he thoroughly enjoyed. In early 2019 his health began to worsen, being diagnosed as terminal with COPD. He was taken care of and loved by family until he died quietly at home in Front Royal on Christmas Day 2020, after having spent a wonderful time with family and great grandchildren the night before. He will be sorely missed by many.

Visitation Thursday, December 31, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. at Smits – Steger Memorial Chapel, 3045 Chicago Rd Steger, IL 60475. Funeral Service at  12:45 p.m. at Steger Memorial Chapel. Interment Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens – Schererville, IN. For more information please call 708-755-6100 or visit www.SMITSFH.com