Walter Katnich-Mayor-1971
A native of Krasica, near Susak, he came to the United States in 1930 at the
age of seven. Like many immigrant families, his father had come to America years
before, found a job, saved some money and then sent for wife and family to join
him. He attended the same school as the late mayor Daley and Chicago’s present
Croatian-American mayor, Mike Bilandich. He became an American citizen in 1937
and played minor league baseball prior to entering the U.S. Army as a member of
the clandestine Office of Strategic Srevices (O.S.S.). He served in Asia and
after the war asked to be assigned to Yugoslavia. Due to his ethnic background
the Army refused and Katnich left the service to continue his education at
Colorado State University and Greely (B.A.) and Louis and Clark University in
Portland, Oregon (M.A.). Katnich moved to Stockton, California in 1952 and four
years later moved to nearby Lodi. He became active in civic affairs and served
as a teacher and later principal in the Lodi School District. He served three
terms as a city councilman and was Mayor in 1971-1972 and again for the term
1977-1978. He belonged to Croatian organizations in Chicago and maintained a
membership in the Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge 22.