Joe William Kovac, Sr.

Joe William Kovac Sr., who for decades ran a well-known paint and glass store and later oversaw a number of commercial properties in Middle Georgia, died Monday after a three-year bout with brain cancer. He was 84.

Kovac, the son of timber-working immigrants who hailed from a river valley along what is now the Croatia-Slovenia border near northern Italy, was born and raised on a farm in the Oaky Woods section of southeastern Houston County.

His father, Josip, previously ran a barrel stave mill on the Ocmulgee River at Hawkinsville. The mill sent Georgia-grown white oak back to his homeland where the wood was used in casks.

Kovac’s mother, Mary Sercer Kovac, was a cook who for nearly four decades ran the kitchen at the renowned New Perry Hotel.

Kovac graduated from Perry High School in 1959. He served four years in the U.S. Navy as an electrician, mostly aboard the USS Galveston.

He opened Kovac Paint & Glass on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins in the middle 1960s. There he sold Benjamin Moore paint. He also cut and installed glass, mirrors and shower enclosures. He later did commercial glass work. His store also sold wallpaper and picture frames that he made by hand.

Kovac was self-taught in most endeavors and had a knack for perfecting his crafts. His easygoing manner made him a natural at connecting with customers. His store opened at 8 a.m. six days a week, but most mornings he was there by 6:30. He would meet you even earlier if you needed something.

He and his wife, Jo Ann Harper Kovac, a Warner Robins native, built a thriving business partnership, branching out into commercial development. Together they raised four children.

In his younger days, Kovac was a talented water skier. He enjoyed nature photography and fishing and sports. He was a skilled carpenter and vegetable gardener.

When he was 70, he bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and rode it to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. At 80, he was still active, working out at the gym in the mornings before heading off to work at one of the developmental properties he oversaw. At home, he was always out in the yard, mowing grass, or on his tractor planting his garden or landscaping. Even in his later years, he was still felling trees with his chainsaw and, with his ax, splitting logs for firewood.

For more than 30 years, he was a member and trustee of Andrew Church in Kathleen.

He preferred milkshakes with vanilla ice cream and Oreos, treats that he mixed himself. At breakfast, he liked F.R.O.G. jam on toast and honey on toast. For dinner, his favorite dish was fried or grilled fish with coleslaw, a must on the side.

He was an exhaustive reader of nonfiction, but one of his favorite stories was a work of fiction, a children’s book by Dr. Seuss, “The Foot Book.” As a gardener, he mastered growing sunflowers, cucumbers and cabbage. He planted trees all over his yard near Mossy Creek, overlooking Houston Lake, a 10-acre expanse that was already largely forested. But Kovac rarely met a tree he didn’t like. His wife couldn’t hold him back when it came to planting them. She says he planted trees in so many places that sometimes he had to cut down other trees to fit the new ones in.

Kovac was preceded in death by his parents and three sisters, Frances Davis, Katherine Little and Evelyn Joan Richardson. He is survived by Jo Ann, his wife of 44 years, a daughter, Karen Swafford (Dan); three sons, David Dimsdale (Julie), Dwayne Dimsdale (Chelsey) and Joe Kovac Jr. (Christy); and 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be Sunday, December 21, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. at McCullough Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 21, 2025, in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home. Afterward, Kovac will be laid to rest in Magnolia Park Cemetery.

Kovac's family requests that donations in his memory be made to Habitat for Humanity

Go to www.mcculloughfh.com to sign the Online Registry for the family. McCullough Funeral Home and Crematory has the privilege of being entrusted with these arrangements