South Paris – John J. Mickus, 85, of Anglers Road, Windham, passed away peacefully on Friday, Dec. 28, at the Maine Veterans Home after being a resident there for the past few years.

He was born on Oct. 14, 1921, and raised on Holyoke Avenue in Rumford, a son of Lithuanian immigrant parents, the late Joseph and Petronele Kucinskaitre Mickus. He was proud of his heritage.

He was a graduate of Stephens High School, class of 1939. He enlisted in the U.S.C.G. Merchant Marine and served on various ships from April, 1943, to January, 1945, when he then went to work for Oxford Paper Co. On Nov. 1, 1945, he married Rita F. Sprague in Portsmouth, N.H. They divorced several years later. He moved to Portland where he purchased a boarding home on State Street which he and Rita operated for several years. He also worked for Hemingway Trucking, and W.A. Messer Co. for many years before retiring in 1998 to Anglers Road in Windham.

Survivors include his niece, Susan Knight and her husband, Jeffrey, of Dixfield; and a great-nephew, Christopher J. Knight.

He was predeceased by his brothers, Joseph and Peter; a sister, Carolyn Barbour; and special friends, Pauline Moutsatsos and Barbara Knight.