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Bob Nose, 77, Dies in Cleveland

Sept. 6, 2007 — Longtime St. John resident Bob Nose died Wednesday at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, his daughter, Valerie Chornyak, said Thursday.
Nose, 77, was in Cleveland for medical treatment when he died of cardiac arrest.
Chornyak said that her father was a lover of life, an adventurer and a great teacher. "He had a great sense of humor," she said.
Nose moved to St. John in 1973 to open a dive shop with the late Jack Bosh. In the years that followed he operated the long-closed Lobster Hut restaurant and most recently, the charter boat Alcoyne.
A Euclid, Ohio native, he worked as a commercial fisherman on Lake Erie before moving to St. John.
Nose was always one for adventures. He sold the Lobster Hut in 1984 to go bicycling in Europe. A staunch Catholic, he visited places like Lourdes as well as relatives in Slovenia.
When he returned after his five-month trip, he bought Alcoyne from Dean and Audrey Hedberg and launched his charter business.
In 1987, he met Anna Dohm, whose family had long lived on St. Thomas, when Nose sailed over to buy beer for his charters from her mother. "I knew I wanted her as crew," Nose said in a June interview.
The two got married in 1989.
In 1994, Nose spent time walking the Appalachian Trail, the famed hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.
He still continued chartering, but age and lingering effects of a stroke caused him to change course.
Friends and acquaintanances reminisced about Nose.
"Bob Nose used to be wild man, a drinker and a carouser," his longtime friend Wally Leopold said.
Leopold said the two met when he was vacationing on St. John. Leopold said he went to the Lobster Hut in hopes of getting dinner, but Nose told him he had to go catch the lobster first. Leopold said Nose invited him to go along, and the two became fast friends.
He said that he crewed for Nose aboard Alcoyne.
"He let me go when he got Anna as a mate," he said.
Leopold said he wasn't sure whether it was "scraping Alcoyne against the rocks" or his wife that made him give up his wild ways, but in any event, Nose found God and settled down.
Leopold said he spoke to Nose just recently.
"The last thing he said to was 'I'll see you at Hawksnest on Christmas Day,'" he said, referring to an annual holiday gathering of St. John residents.
Nose is survived by his wife, Anna; Valerie Chornyak; sons Kevin Nose and Kurt Nose. He also has seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Chornyak said Nose's funeral will be held Monday in Columbus, Ohio. A memorial service will be held at a later date on St. John.
She requested that in lieu of flowers, friends make contributions to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Box 241, St. John, VI, 00831.

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