- Date Of Birth: July 12, 1928
- Date Of Death: December 30, 2012
- State: Illinois
Mr. George H. Maze, 84, of Peru, passed away, Sunday morning, December 30, 2012 at his home.
Mr. Maze was born at home, July 12, 1928 at 2731 7th St., Peru, Illinois to Hamilton Murray and Geneve (Cadle) Maze. He married Nancy Chadbourne in LaSalle in July of 1952. He attended Peru Public Schools and graduated from LaSalle-Peru Township High School. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1950 with a degree in economics and business with a minor in chemistry. He started work in the laboratory at American Nickeloid Co. in October of 1950.
However, he was drafted into the US Army in December of that year. After 14 weeks of infantry basic training he was reassigned to Army Chemical Center in Maryland where he remained until discharge in December of 1952. He then returned to American Nickeloid Co. where over the years he held various positions, finally as president. He was active in local organizations, being a board member of Peoples Hospital/IVCH for over 50 years and a board member of the Hygienic Institute for over 50 years. For a number of years he was on the board of the LaSalle National Bank.
At various times he belonged to the Farm Bureau, Peru Boat Club, Peru Pistol Club, AOPA (holding a private pilot’s license), The Nature Conservancy, Starved Rock Audubon Society, LaSalle County Natural Area Guardian’s, Illinois Nature Land Institute, and maintained an Illinois Professional Engineer’s License. He was not active in organized sports but enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, solar eclipses, photography, canoeing, boating, and camping with the family pop-up trailer or tent, from car or canoe, seeing places and things one cannot see otherwise. Notable river trips were two months on the Snake River in Idaho, and two multi-week trips on the Thelon in the Northwest Territories. As a teen he rafted on the Illinois River, and later canoed and boated on the Great Lakes and on the Fox, Little and Big Vermilion, and other Mid-Western rivers.
Various trips included one month to Alaska with three sons and a nephew, crossing the Atlantic on the ocean liner SS France for a one month visit to England, Switzerland, and France with all four sons, a two week tour of New Zealand and Australia with son Robert, and a week in Malaysia with Will and his wife Jinny. He is survived by his wife, Nancy of Peru; three sons, William (Virginia Sisson) Maze of Houston, TX, Gregory Maze of Peru, and Henry (Laurel Hall) Maze of Peru; four grandchildren, Erin, Heather, Emily, and Alexander; one great-grandchild, Avery; one sister, Nancy Janssen of Peru; one nephew, Peter Janssen; and two nieces, Elizabeth Bishop and Katherine Gefke. George was preceded in death by a son, Robert, who died in 1989.
