Once upon a
time, in the country of Poland many
years ago, were born two special
people:
Pawel Olsiewicz was born March 22, 1922 in Wilno, Poland. The son of Sergiusz and Dorotea Olsiewicz. He's the oldest of eight children. He grew up on a farm and had to walk through long stretches of woods to get to school. He played the harmonica and the zither for fun. He also loved to joke around and play tricks.
Stanislawa Banas was born April 12, 1926 in Kielce. Her parents were Lawrence and Josephine Banas. She also grew up on a farm but it was closer to the village. She loved to hear her father play the violin. He also was a shoemaker and a sometime schoolteacher. Her mother passed away very young and Stanislawa was left to tend to her younger siblings.
When the Nazis invaded Poland, life changed forever. Both Paul and Stella were taken from their families to Germany to work as slave labor. It was a hard life for both teenagers.
Liberation by the Allies in 1944 brought relief and uncertainty in the refugee camps. Paul and Stella met at a barracks one night where they were showing a John Wayne movie. There were no seats left so Paul said that Stella could sit on his lap. And she did.
They married and had their first child, daughter Halina (born May 30, 1947) in Wieldflecken, Germany. Two years later daughter Jadwiga was born on August 16, 1949. They moved to the displaced persons camp in Munich where daughter Janina was born on December 20, 1951.
They struggled and worked hard doing various jobs and sharing living quarters in cramped army barracks. They still had some good times with many friends and lots of music.
The opportunity came in 1955 to move to either Australia or the U.S. where relatives were ready to sponsor their immigration. Paul and Stella chose the U.S. and were sponsored by Paul's sister, Jadwiga. They traveled by boat with just a few belongings and their three daughters. The journey took nearly a week on the stormy Atlantic ocean in December.
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They arrived in New York and stayed at first in Byram, Connecticut. They got their first apartment in Port Chester, New York. Paul found factory work as a machinist. Stella took care of the girls.
Son Edward Theodore was born September 17, 1956. The first American-born Olsiewicz. The girls went to school and began to learn English and helped Paul and Stella to acclimate themselves. Stella found work cleaning houses.
They all kept their Polish heritage and found many other fellow Poles in the Port Chester community at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church and at the local Polish Cultural Hall (Polski Dom Narodowy).
Daughter Krystyna Josephine was born November 21, 1963, a time of social upheaval with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Through good times and bad, the family kept together with strength and a strong sense of humor.
L I N K S :
GENEOLOGY Table | Port Chester MAP | SARAH'S PAGE | Krys
