John E. Derbas, 90, a longtime Western Electric employee and assistant Major League baseball scout, died Friday at Palos Hospital. Mr. Derbas, of Orland Park, grew up in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. He started working when he was 14 for Western Electric as a paint sprayer. He worked at the company-without missing a day-until he retired at age 62. He coached baseball at St. Rita’s High School on Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s. After he retired, he worked for 20 years as an assistant baseball scout for the Milwaukee Braves and the California Angels. He is survived by his wife, Genevieve; two daughters, Therese and Rita; two sons; Raymond and Arthur; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A funeral mass will be said at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Michael Church, 143rd Street and Highland Avenue in Orland Park.
