International Women’s Day

A homemaker, factory worker, and a devout Catholic. A woman that was selfless and never asked for anything, and you never needed to ask her for anything because she was always the first to offer. Petite in size but pound for pound and inch for inch few were more mighty...at least in my eyes.

My great-grandmother was a first generation American. Her parents came over from Poland and settled on Chicago’s south side where they opened up a store.

She then fell in love with a gentleman from Hammond, IN and moved there to start a family.

As part of the greatest generation she grew up during the Great Depression and told me stories of food lines, putting cardboard in worn out shoes to cover the holes, and drawing a line down the leg with a pencil to give the appearance of wearing hosiery. She sung FDR’s praises, even dedicated a whole chapter to him in her memoirs. She loved telling me stories about traveling out west, and her fascination with petrified wood. I’m honored to have her rock collection.

She was done with school at 8th grade and went right into the workforce! She assembled radio parts, cleaned hotels in downtown Chicago, and she worked at Taylor Chain in Hammond.

She would walk home from work on her lunch break and make lunch for my great-grandfather and grandmother, then return back. Even after leaving the workforce she was the epitome of hard work. Her house was always spotless, and she was a great cook.

She took great pride in her age, in fact when asked she would always give her age not as it was currently but how old she would be on her birthday in December.

As a kid I have fond memories of her spending time with me. Pulling me around in a red Radio-Flyer wagon. Talking, making popcorn on the stove, playing board games. Banging on pots and pans to ring in the New Year. I loved to draw, so she always had plenty of paper and crayons when I came to visit.

She pretty much spoiled me, my sister and my cousin, but she did have a couple of rules. We had to be quiet when she would say her prayers on the Rosary and during the People’s Court. She also introduced me to M*A*S*H, her favorite show, and it became one of my favorites as well.

Family was of the utmost importance to Great-Grandma, and while I now realize she didn’t have favorites. She always made you feel special like you were her favorite.

Sadly, her husband passed before any of us great-grandkids were born. She would go on a good 30 years after he passed. Never remarried or dated. She kept his memory alive and told me stories about their love of the Go-Go era White Sox with Billy Pierce, Nellie Fox, Luis Apparicio, and Minnie Minoso. She even called me when I was 16 to tell me that Fox finally got in the Hall of Fame.

She passed away in April of 2005, and just missed the White Sox World Series win, but I’d like to think her and great-grandpa were watching together from heaven after being reunited.

You won’t read about her in history books, or see any moments other than her and great-grandpa’s plot at the cemetery, but she was one of the everyday unsung heros that made our world a better place.