After working more than 40 years in the moving and storage business, Robert Roy Markko Sr. of Des Plaines had an eye for discovering antique treasures.
Over the years, Mr. Markko collected rare stamps and books as well as antique furniture. But according to his family, Mr. Markko’s most treasured collection came from items imbued with family history.
“Our house is totally full of memories,” said his daughter Susan Markko-Bushery. “And over the years my dad would give us pieces of it. Every time we came to the house, we never left without taking something that was a piece from his life.”
Mr. Markko, 72, died of a heart attack on Wednesday, May 29, in Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines.
The Chicago native started working as a mechanic for Pickens-Kane Moving & Storage in Chicago. He was a truck driver delivering pianos all over the city in the 1950s and later worked as a dispatcher. He worked his way up to vice president, a post he had held for more 10 years when he left the company in 1985.
After working for a few movers in Chicago, Mr. Markko and his partner, Dave Johnson, became co-owners of O’Boyle Transfer Co., a moving and storage company in Chicago. Mr. Markko served as president until they sold the firm in 2000.
“He never had any trouble getting repeat business,” said Johnson.
Mr. Markko enjoyed scouring second-hand stores. He found all his elementary school pictures after buying the contents of a storage locker that had belonged to a former classmate, his daughter said.
“It was like a treasure hunt for him,” she said. “It was a way for him to connect to his past.”
Other survivors include his wife of 49 years, Agnes; four more daughters, Jean Tikusis, Janet Fenton, Mary Larson and Michele Dressendorfer; a son, Robert Roy Jr.; seven sisters, Hilja Penttila, Tyyne Morrow, Ailie Lisching, Esther Sullivan, Dorothy Wash, Hanna Hall and Lillian Harris; three brothers, George, Herbert and Gilbert; and 15 grandchildren.
Prayers will be said at 9 a.m. Saturday in Matz Funeral Home, 410 E. Rand Rd., Mt. Prospect. A mass will follow at 9:30 a.m. in St. Emily Catholic Church, 1400 E. Central Rd., Mt. Prospect.
