Fairmont, WV - John E. Yerkovich, 79, from Fairmont, passed away January 26th, 2026 at his home, surrounded by his family. John was proud to be from Fairmont. He would say often he was born at Fairmont General Hospital, graduated from Fairmont Senior High School and Fairmont State College. In high school he was a member of the KIBO Club. In college he was a member of the TBI Fraternity where he met a lot of great guys and had a lot of great memories from both.

John started working at an early age doing everything from cutting grass, working at several gas stations, doing small construction jobs, and even worked in the kitchen at Say-Boy Restaurant.

John was a teacher, builder and a coal miner. As a teacher, he taught Industrial Arts (Shop) at Musselman High School where Shop was required of all 7th and 8th grade boys and girls. He thought every boy and girl should learn to use their minds and to also work with their hands.

As a builder, he built several houses in the Fairmont area, but he was most proud of the one he built for his mother and dad on the river in Kingmont in the 1970's and the one he built for his daughter and son-in-law in Fair Oaks in 2005.

John thought going into the mines to work was the right thing to do. His dad was a coal miner, along with both grandfathers and several uncles. He started as a union laborer and worked his way up to Regional Safety Inspector. John loved coal miners. He thought coal miners were special people.

John married his high school sweetheart, the former Marianne Dilly. They had been married years. Together they had three beautiful, wonderful daughters, Jann Stewart, Erin Hager, and Christa Sokol. His family grew to include three son-in-laws, Rodney Stewart, Roger Hager, and Trad Sokol, all of Fairmont. He had six grandchildren - Benjamin Stewart and Bethany Moore of Indianapolis, IN, Maxwell Stewart and Karena Clarke, Sarah Hager, Riley Hager, Joel Hager, and Brody Sokol of Fairmont.

John was preceded in death by his parents, Eddie and Betty (Pinn) Yerkovich, his in-laws Bud and Betty Dilly, brother-in-law, Ron Dilly, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

After retiring from the mines, he went back to construction starting a home handy man service, doing hundreds of remodeling and repair jobs for friends and family throughout Marion County. He had a long list of friends that he loved to help whenever they called. He enjoyed the work but especially loved the cakes, pies, cookies and conversation that came along with those house calls.

John was a golf enthusiast. He loved watching golf and playing as many different courses as he could. He was proud of his one and only hole-in-one at Tygart Lake in Grafton in 1979.

He also enjoyed watching WVU and Steeler football. But mostly he enjoyed watching his grandchildren playing sports. He was very proud of all of them and very rarely missed a chance to watch them play.

Making spaghetti and meatballs and confetti cake for his family was another one of his many talents. He loved his dog Brandy and grandpup Bell. There weren't too many places in Fairmont that he would go that he wasn't recognized by someone - a friend from school or work, someone he did handyman work for, a parent from one of the grandchildren's sports teams. He went by John or Johnnie, but was often recognized as Pa or PaPa by kids and adults alike. They were all his extended family. He was loved by so many and will be deeply missed.

The family will receive friends from 12 -5 on Saturday, January 31 with a service to be held at 5:30. Burial will be held at a later date. To honor John's memory, donations may be made to Central Christian Church 1640 Big Tree Drive Fairmont WV 26554 and The Marion County Humane Society 2731 Locust Ave Fairmont WV 26554.