George A Silay Sr

George A Silay Sr

George A. Silay Sr. passed away Thursday, October 3, 2019 at his residence with his children by his side. He was born December 12, 1948 in Erie, a son of the late Joseph J. Silay Jr. and Helen B. Hornyak Silay.

George attended Strong Vincent High School and then served his country in the Vietnam War as a member of the United States Army.

He retired from GE after 36 years as a heavy fabrication welder. His skill as a welder afforded him the opportunity to travel the world, including places like Russia, Egypt and Iran, where he would spend weeks and sometimes months at a time repairing damaged locomotive platforms and trucks.

George's passion for much of his life was building and repairing custom Harley motorcycles. In fact, his nickname among his many friends in the motorcycle community was "Sportster George".

Later in life George enjoyed fishing and watching Nascar and the Pittsburgh Steelers with his family. He fed the ducks at the public dock almost every day.

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his brother Francis Silay.

He is survived by his wife Barbara J. Boyce Silay, his daughter Gretchen A. Haider of Erie, and three sons, George A. Silay Jr. (Colleen) and Joseph J. Silay III of Erie, and Gregory A. Silay of New Mexico. He is also survived by eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild and many nieces and nephews.

Friends are invited to call at the John R. Orlando Funeral Home, Inc, 2122 Raspberry Street, on Thursday from 4:00pm until the time of the Funeral Service there at 7:00 p.m.