Donald "Arv" Joseph Arvidson

Hello, my name is Viktoria. I wrote this eulogy and want to share it with you. Donald J. Arvidson or ARV was my husband. We were married in this Church August 04, 1997, 28 years ago. I'll explain our first wedding later. We were members of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church to 2012 and Our Lady of Victory after that.

He joined the US Air Force in 1972. He served his country proudly and obtained his Honorable Discharge in 1975. He was 100% service-connected disabled. He was an active member of the DAV (Disabled American Veterans). He functioned very well in civilian life. And he always was proud to be American and loved his country. One of the things he was most proud of was his marriage. He was a great husband.

Donald fell and hit his head on the sidewalk on December 11, 2022. He went to the Veterans Hospital March 8, 2023 and from there he came home and had neck surgery where they removed 3 vertebrae in his neck on March 15, 2023, and since then he was unable to hold up his head, and it hurt him greatly.

The doctor said it was a pinched nerve that caused the fall and he had to have it operated on. Since then he has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for most of three subsequent years.

A mutual friend who also lived in the same courtyard apartments introduced us to each other. I asked Arv some personal questions. I said, "What you have is hope." He later that night came over and changed my burnt-out light bulb on my front porch.

He gave me rides to and home from work. I had 40 quarters or ten years' worth of Social Security Taxes which were enough quarters for retirement and Medicare for myself and Arv too. He would not have lived for so long without Medicare. He also had the VA helping him at the Veterans Hospital and caregiver support from Jan 2025 to April 6th, 2026. They covered the Heather Knoll Nursing Home from February 26, 2026 to April 06, 2026 and would have longer if he lived longer.

Later, after knowing him for many months, I asked him, "May I sleep on your couch?" I never went back to me apartment to sleep. When he moved into Tallmadge, I moved there with him. I left all my apartment things and the apartment to my brother.

We were married the first time, by a Protestant Preacher on Feb 8th, 1988. It was Arv's "Happy Day." The preacher did not know that. "Happy Day" is when his mother, Alice, picked him from a group at an orphanage in New York where he was born. She told him, "You are the one I picked, I could have had anyone-but you are the special one I picked." That is the date they celebrated his birthday because the date he was born was too close to Christmas, so he received Christmas presents on Christmas, and birthday presents on Happy Day.

Arv was in a bowling league when I met him. He had one perfect game 300 sometime before we met. After a while at Jefferson, we joined some couple's bowling leagues. We earned several trophies with our Mixed Couples Group including two first places out of five years.

Arv helped me finish my second associate degree at the U. of A. Arv graduated from Buckeye College with an Associate Degree in Accounting with honors. He excelled academically and as a matter of fact he was on Academic Challenge and he and his group's pictures were in the paper. I graduated with an Associate Degree in Business Management.

We lived in Cuyahoga Falls home for 23 years. We moved to Tallmadge Oaks Apartments in Feb. 2012. We were there for 12 years.

Arv has one brother, Joseph K. Arvidson, 2 nephews: young Joseph K. II, and Jared A. Arvidson. Their mothers, are Rhonda, and Heather, respectively. I wanted to thank Clair (Alice) Arvidson for the well-respected name: Mrs. Arvidson.

Arv leaves many in-laws. Tibor his brother-in-law (Wanda), Izabella, Kornel (Rebecca), Joseph, Samuel, Laura, Andrew (Arleen), and Sally (Joe Joe). He was preceded by in-laws Ille's Santa, Rosemary (Shawn), and Daniel.

We appreciate all of the prayers of our friends at Our Lady of Victory Church, they had him on 3 years on and off prayer requests at church. We appreciate all the prayers of cherished family and friends. And thank you to all our neighbors at Danbury Senior Living for all their prayers, well-wishes, handshakes, and hugs.

Arv went peacefully at the Heather Knoll Nursing Home and Wellspring Hospice. Thank you to all those hospitals and nursing homes too.

He waited for me to visit him at the nursing home ten minutes before he stopped breathing on April sixth (one day after Easter.) He had such a bad time the last two days before going to his Heavenly Home. He was 72 years old. He was paralyzed for those two days. It must have been very boring. I visited him those two days in the afternoon, and another one and a half hours in the evening. Before then, I visited every day one and a half hours sometimes 2 hours. He did not want to let me go and he cried when I was leaving. When he no longer could talk, for about two weeks, they told me he could still hear me, so I talked to him and played "Alexa" with his favorite songs, religious and rock and roll.

I loved him so.

The family will receive friends on Thursday, April 16, from 5-7 pm at the Anthony Funeral Home - Akron Chapel, 1990 S. Main St. in Akron. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, April 17, 10 am at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church 1905 Portage Trail in Cuyahoga Falls. Private entombment will take place at Tallmadge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in Arv's memory to the Disabled American Veterans by visiting www.dav.org, the American Diabetes Association by visiting www.diabetes.org, or to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation by visiting www.give.ccf.org. To read the full obituary, please visit www.anthonyfh.com (Anthony, AKRON)