Nikola Busija was a good man, which is a real rarity today
Nikola Busija - life in brief
⁸My brother-in-law Niko, as those who respected him called him, also had a more derogatory nickname, some locals called him Niko Škulja because he had an anecdote as a kid at school with the letter O, where he asked the teacher what the letter O looked like answered that the letter O looks like the hole in the school, and that's how Niko got his nickname.
He lost his father when he was only 1 year old, his father was killed by partisans in 1945.
The difficult life in the countryside and growing up without a father in a large family largely marked his life.
After serving the army in the former state, he got married, started a family, had a son and a daughter in marriage!
During the time of the former state, he spent some time in prison, in Lepoglava as a political prisoner, because his fellow villagers hounded him for singing the Croatian song Marjane, Marjane.
When he returned from prison, he could not get a job anywhere. He barely got a job later on the railway.
Well, he managed to get a job, although it was not easy, he worked, his wife raised his children, it was a happy time for him and his family until the tragedy in 1983 when a passenger train hit a bus at the level crossing in Bilaj where he was both children. Son Milan (15) died on the spot and daughter Mandica (10) was seriously injured.
That tragedy actually destroyed him mentally and physically, not long after he got asthma, diabetes and psoriasis and he lived with it.
In 1991, he took part in the Homeland War and defended his country against the Serb Chetnik aggressor.
After the war he returned to his job on the railroad. Later he became the grandfather of 2 grandchildren whom he loved very much.
He spent several years in retirement, he used to drink once in a while but he liked to light a cigarette the most, he smoked two or three packs a day, and then one day asthma started to suffocate him and water accumulated in his body, and he had high blood sugar .
He went to the hospital and died in a couple of days, his heart just couldn't take it. He died at the age of 63!
Dear grandpa Niko, rest in God's peace and may the Croatian land be easy for you!!🙏😢🇭🇷
