Our Dear Friend Victor Bodek has passed

I am so very sorry for your loss.

Wow, what a shock to see and read this. I've seen Vic many times with the Wild Bill's crew along with Bert, Marty and the rest of the Michigan contigent at each and every York. They used to attend the now famous in the past AOL BBQ's we had on the fairgrounds in the early 2000's there.

I am truly sorry to read this and send my condolences to his family.

Ted Bertiger

I am still in shock and deeply saddened by the loss of my friend.  Victor has been my layout partner in the Detroit 3 Railers for several years.  Together we have hosted several train gatherings.  He never stepped foot in my house without something in his hand to offer each of my children, candy, toy or gift.  This is going to take some time to process. RIP Mr. Vic.

So, sad! But, think - after knowing him ....of how empty your life would have been....not having the chance to meet his entity in this life! Like John Lennon said " we all shine on ..like the moon and the stars and the sun......Soon you will meet again! 

Victor was the HEART and SOUL of our club and he will be really missed. If there was a train show, he was going. If there was a new product he knew all about it. If there was train outing he was either organizing it or would tell me all about it. I personally will always remember how his face would light up when the subject came to trains. 

Thank you Victor for being a part of my life, I will never forget the moments we shared.

I am truly saddened by this news. I' have known Vic since the very early days at Wild Bills some 20 years ago. Always smiling, I've never known him to have a bad word to say about anyone. I last spoke with him when he stopped by my table for a chat at a train show in Troy Mi. in late January.  We spoke about a number of things but the truly sad part was me telling him how I'm still recovering from unexpected  emergency open heart surgery after failing a normal routine stress test months before.   I urged him to get one himself because you just never know..  So so sad.  He will be sorely missed. by many in this area

joe

Victor will be missed - A really great and funny guy.  A real love for trains both Lionel and the real ones. RIP

On the hearing of victors passing I was flooded with great  memories going back almost 20 years of seeing Victor at Wild Bills on the weekend,  local train events to traveling to York.  All the comments in the above posts are not just words they are true.  Victor loved life, people and trains and I for one have been inriched and blessed to have Victor as a friend.

Victor was an A #1 rail fan in every way. I don't know anyone else that had so much enthusiasm for trains. He has left us with a void that can't be filled.

RIP Victor.

Sorry to hear about Victor ,knew him thru LOTS and TCA.

Victor's funeral arrangements can be found here.

Gentlemen,

Sorry to hear about Vic, hope his family is recovering from his loss.

PCRR/Dave

The news about Victor is very sad.  He was an awesome person to enjoy the model railroading hobby with and I'll really miss chatting with him at future Glancy events.  I know many of my fellow Glancy Members have known him for many more years than I have, but in the past six years I've enjoyed some memorable times with Victor at various happenings the modular layout attended.  He will be greatly missed and train shows will never be the same without him.  

He used to make it a point to swing by and say hi when the layout was setup for Day out with Thomas at Greenfield Village when I was out running the locomotive.  I'll definitely be missing that in a couple weeks.

Here's a photo my dad took at our train party at the Redford Theatre back in February showing Victor doing what he loved, seeing the trains run.

After reading the above and the obituary link my thought is may we all aspire to live a life to have such fine sentiments written about us.  Apparently a real gentleman.  Thanks to setting the bar that high.

I had the honor of knowing Victor through the Lionel Operating Train Society and through interactions at the York meet. He was a gentleman, knowledgeable about trains, and a delight to chat with. He will be missed by many. My sympathy to his family. RIP Victor.

Tony

Up on "The D & H Bridge Line".

Wow Jake, That picture of Victor hit me pretty hard.

I knew Victor from the LOTS conventions.  Very nice gentleman. Sorry to receive news of his passing.

MichRR714 posted:

Wow Jake, That picture of Victor hit me pretty hard.

It had a similar effect on me when I saw it.  It's still sort of unbelievable that he's gone... 

Got to know Victor during my time spent in Michigan at Great Lakes, at Wild Bill's, at all the local train shows; he was a gentleman, a good soul  who loved trains. 

My condolences.

As everyone has said, Victor was truly an ambassador to the hobby!  LOTS was blessed to have him as a Director for two previous terms and his current term.  Next year, he would have celebrated being a LOTS member for 30 years!  Larry and I will miss spending time with him and hearing about all the fun train things he was always getting involved with.  He made time to help, no matter what the task was.  He even baked a fantastic apple pie and grew prize winning cherry tomatoes.  Victor will live on in through all the memories of great times spent together.  One of Victor's last text messages to me was that I shouldn't worry and the LOTS train shouldn't stop because he has to have surgery.  He was so determined to get things done timely and efficiently.   "Keep it simple. Paula and remember, I don't like red shirts!" 

A few pictures together with his LOTS family are below.

My condolences on your loss. So sorry for all of you.

Peter

Really going to miss you Victor...

Some Glancy shots from 2002-2004

A genuinely wonderful person who shared his warmth with everyone he met, as the above pictures amply demonstrate. A nice tribute to a special person!  

Victor was one of the all time good guys.  He befriended my family and I at our first LOTS convention in Lancaster. Never heard him say a bad word about anyone.  Victor was the first person my grandchildren wanted to see at the LOTS conventions.  One of my favorite memories was at the LOTS convention last year in Colorado.  He advised us that the "restaurant" that was busy with a lot of traffic was not a restaurant but a pot shop.  We all had a good laugh.  Victor you will be missed.