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Tony Granatowski

Tony Granatowski was one of my best friends for a decade, yet I never met him in real life. He was one of the early players at a place called the Internet Gaming Zone, now known as www.zone.com. The IGZ pre-dated Windows 95 and browsers and the world wide web. It was a place where one could drop in and play a few card games and, in our case, make friends and be part of an actual, if virtual, community. I, and countless others, developed lasting friendships with Tony, whom we all knew as “Potz” from his years-long web nickname, potrzebie. We played hundreds of games of spades and hearts on the internet gaming zone, shared thousands of jokes — mostly corny — and spent hours and hours trying to out-pun each other. But it was more than that. We shared pictures and stories of our families, sought and got advice about life’s trials no matter how big or trivial, and even called each other on the phone to talk in person when times got tough.

As you mentioned, Tony was fun, witty, charming, and so smart! Potz knew so much about music, and as much about old ’60s soul and Motown as I did, and I grew up in Detroit. Behind the humor, he was a sensitive and caring guy, always willing to take the time to help out people new to the zone, regardless of how much time it took from his own playing. When Donna was so ill, back in the mid to later 1990s, I think Tony took some refuge in our little on-line community, late at night after his then little girls were asleep. Online, he found a place to put aside what must have been tremendous pressure and grief over his impending loss — a place to just kick back for a little while, laugh a little, rant and rave about politics, talk about music, tell a lot of jokes, correct each others’ diction and spelling, and complain (a lot) about Windows and Microsoft and Bill Gates.
(Insert smiley face emoticon here).

Later, after finding the second love of his life in Katherine, moving back to Oregon, and watching his daughters grow into their teen years, he shared with us his joy and his newfound happiness. He taught me how to play golf online, and even had tips to correct my real-life slice which almost worked. I know his kids’ birthdays, shared the pain of Donna’s illness and death, the release and resolve he felt as he moved his family from Scottsdale back to Oregon and his unabashed joy when he “re-met” and eventually married Katherine. I heard all about his anxieties as Jess and Emilee grew old enough to get their drivers’ licenses, his pride when Jess was accepted at NYU, and all about the new house in Lake Oswego, so painstakingly rehabbed in his “spare” time.

Over the past couple years, both Tony and I drifted away somewhat from our online community. We kept in touch through occasional emails, swapping jokes and family news. My last note from Tony was — how typical is this — a Polish joke he forwarded to me in December ‘03, the month before he died. Today, while catching up on old correspondence, I realized I hadn’t heard from my good friend Potz in way too long. My email note to him bounced back. I knew something was wrong, because Tony and I always kept each other’s addresses current. Google brought me to your website, and the shocking news of this past January when Tony died. I thank you for your touching obituary and tribute to our mutual friend. Although my relationship with Tony was merely virtual, my sense of loss is very real.

It feels a bit odd, writing to his high school alma mater, and telling stories about a man whom I knew so well, yet never met. I envy you, his classmates, who knew him in person and could, no doubt, sense his warmth and caring, and his easy, friendly manner firsthand. But I wanted you to know about this virtual side of Tony G. — the friend so many of us know as Potz — and to tell you that hundreds of us out here in the ether of the Internet will miss him, too.

“DetroitDave”

Dave Taylor
Ashland, Missouri
September, 2004

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Tony Granatowski

02/02/04 The Oregonian (w/ edits by Robin Bee and Claire Von Derau)

A Memorial Mass was held on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004, at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon, for Anthony John Granatowski, who died suddenly of Cancer on Jan. 24 at age 50.
Tony was born Sept. 17, 1953, in Oceanside, Calif.

He was a student at Pacific High School in California from fall of 1969 to June of 1970. Tony was an incredible guitarist and musician and was always hanging with other musicians and jamming away. He spent some time living in the Green Dome with Efross, et al, and at Horney Mountain with Bob, Jonathan, Lorna and Alan.

Tony was gregarious, outgoing, and always a happy person. He returned to Southern CA. after Pacific, where he met the love of his life, Donna Pazos, in the restaurant business. They married, and moved to Lake Oswego about 1988.They moved to Scottsdale,
Ariz. for treatment in the mid 90’s while Donna was fighting Cancer, before returning to Lake Oswego in 1997 where she died during the PHS 1st All-School Reunion in August 1997. I was lucky enough to meet and get to know her for a few months. They were really something, together!

Those of you who were at the reunion should remember the fundraiser we had for the Susan B. Konen Breast Cancer Research program, in Donna’s name. In 2000 he married Katherine Von Derau,
Donna’s best friend, whose kids had grown up together with theirs. He did make it to the Reunion in 2002 and had a ball catching up with everybody over the weekend. Tony was the one who heroically drove to the flatlands late Friday night and procured hundreds of pounds (?) of cheeses, crackers and other goodies for the Saturday gathering. We certainly had plenty to eat!

We had a small, fun regional PHS gathering hosted by Tony and Katherine at their place about 4 weeks after the 2002 reunion, with Pete Moss, Dorothy Detsch, Kurt Nebel, Wendy Temko, and Aron Helligas. The expansion and remodeling of their home had just been finished after 6 years of construction chaos.

Tony and Katherine worked side-by-side to complete the project and it really looked great.

He was director of business analysis and systems integration for Food Services of America (computer whiz kid), and is survived by his wife Katherine; daughters, Jessica and Emilee; stepchildren Michael and Clair and sister, Karen Hetzel.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to say goodbye. I will miss his good-nature and ready laugh. Robin Bee (Bloomgarden)

If anyone else would like to contribute recollections about Tony send them in please.

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