Ancestors and Progeny

 Ancestors and Progeny

 My progeny, some of whom the still carry the unusual last name of Polish origin, have emerged as mostly high school and college-educated good citizens.  In the American melting pot tradition, some have inter-married with spouses of Lebanese, Irish, Italian and other American backgrounds. Thankfully, none of them, to my knowledge, have been afflicted by the many ills prevalent in our society.  None are drunks or drug addicts, or criminals.

 I am the patriarch of this extended family at this point, with my direct offspring in their sixties, and their adult kids in their twenties and thirties.

 I’ve done some Ancestry.com work lately, and gone back to the Ellis Island records showing when my ancestors arrived in the U.S.  My grandfather Wojciech Gruszecki, (Albert in English], was born in 1870 in what is shown as Jaslo, Galicia, Austria, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1906 at age 36.  (Remember that Poland did not exist as a country from 1795 to 1918). 

 My grandmother Anna Gruszecka, whose maiden name was Anna Kluza, is shown as emigrating to the U.S. in 1910 at age 29.   This indicates that she was married in Poland before emigrating to the U.S., but the records are unclear.  Both my grandmother and grandfather were from what now is Southeastern Poland, about 150 km from Ukraine, and 100 km from Slovakia.

 My grandparents became poor dirt farmers in Savoy, Massachusetts, like many other immigrants at that time.  Their property, close to the Windsor line, was about 100 acres of mostly wooded land.  I don’t believe that they ever became American citizens.  They just stayed and farmed as resident aliens.  Wojciech Gruszecki, 1872-1946.  Anna (Kluza) Gruszecka, 1877-1950.

 They had five children, my aunts Stacia (1904-1972), Sophie (1906-1981), and Mildred (1912-1994), my father Teddy (1909-1970), and my uncle Walter (1915-1974).  One child died at birth.  I don’t think that any of them went to high school, instead helping out on the farm, or entering the work force in their early teens.  All three of these aunts worked in local cotton mills from their mid-teens until later in life.  My aunts Stacia and Sophie did not have any children.  My Aunt Mildred had two kids.

 I remember my father being one of the last of his generation (in the 1940’s), to be able to effectively use teams of horses for plowing, harrowing and other farm work.  He was also naturally mechanically inclined, and was able to tear down, repair and rebuild all manner of automotive and other mechanical equipment.  He helped me to replace rings and bearings on some of the junk-type cars that I used for transportation in my younger days.

 My father was also comfortable “working the land”, - from farming to logging, to farm animals.  Without really any formal education, he could do pretty much anything he set his mind to do.

 My mother was also born in Southeastern Poland in 1905, in a rural area named Nieczajna Gorna.  She emigrated to Chicago in 1921 to join her sister Mary, who had preceded her.  She traveled to Western Massachusetts to visit her cousins (Tabors) in the late 1920’s, when she met my American-born father.  They both spoke English and Polish, and embarked on a 1920-30’s style courtship in the times of Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.

 They married in 1933, and I was born in 1936.  My sister came later, in 1943, in the middle of the second world war.  My father lived from 1909-1970, and my mother from 1905-1987.

 Moving on to my generation and later, I was born in 1936, and can remember some of the economic depression of the 1930’s, and quite a lot of the Second World War.  I could of course read quite well by the time that the war ended in 1945, but I was too young to have developed any real political beliefs.  My mother was an FDR enthusiast.  Others, at the time, called him “that bastard, Frankie”.  My father was apolitical, and probably might have qualified as a modern Libertarian.  He was independent, and very much his own man.  He did not deign to comment on politics.  If out of a job, he would create his own job, doing something connected with the land.  I remember one of his epithets when referring to Roosevelt’s Work Project Administration of the 1930’s which engaged indigent men in public works projects.  My father Teddy called it “We Poke Around”.

 I worked with my father from time to time when I was in my teens, and got to know him a bit more than his natural taciturnity allowed.  He was a hard worker who did excellent work at whatever he did.  He left that good habit with me.

 I was good in school and enjoyed it.  I chose the Scientific Course, and I got good grades in high school while working a full shift at a local cotton mill from age 16 onwards.  I finished number three in my graduating class of one hundred plus, and received several scholarships and awards.

 It was 1954, and since I was dirt poor and working for $1.15 per hour in the local cotton mill, I had intended to join the U.S. Military, and continue my education later on the G.I. Bill.  My mother, my high school principle, Mr. Grosz, and the scholarships I got, directed me toward studying Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston.  So, I left “the sticks” of Savoy and Adams, left my car, left my friends, and headed for big city Boston and academia.

 I won’t be boring with my college adventures.  Suffice it to say that I graduated and got my degree in Chemical Engineering in 1959 with a modest grade point average.  Northeastern University was a co-op school, so basically, other than the first full year, for the next four years, we went to classes for half of the year, and worked in a related field for the other half of the year.  In my case, I also worked on my own while I was attending classes, which cut in to study time, but which allowed me to eat.  Back then, you could get through college with diligence and hard work, some scholarships, and nominal financial help from family and friends.

 My son Craig also got his Chemical Engineering degree from Northeastern in 1983, and my granddaughter Alana got her PharmD from Northeastern in 2012.  Craig was pretty much able to work his way through college, (with scholarships), like I did.  He may have owed a small amount upon graduation. 

 In the modern inflationary world, my very intelligent granddaughter, Alana, with many scholarships because of her nearly 4.0 brightness, and with working co-op, still ended up owing a chunk of money to the academic bandits.

 Another granddaughter, Katie, studied medicine at Boston University, and obtained PANCE accreditation in their masters program as a Physician Assistant.  Katie is also a 4.0 type student and received many scholarships, but still generated substantial debt.

 Granddaughter Colleen got her degree in Business Administration from Fashion Institute of Manhattan.  She also generated substantial student loan debt.

 Two Grandsons, Matthew and Tommy, have Computer Science degrees.  Matthew from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and Tommy, just weeks ago, from SUNY Binghamton, NY.  Tommy has a job lined up with JP Morgan Chase in the New York City area starting in a few weeks.  Matthew is working locally, living at home, and still looking first his first professional job.  Matthew is on the spectrum, but then, so is the richest person in the world, Elon Musk.

 Daughter Suzanne Grimes and her three kids all have college backgrounds.  Her husband Jimmy is a retired union super who worked all over New York City in the metal lathers union all of his life, and most likely has made more money than any of us. He is now retired, and contracting as a sideline, just to keep busy.

 I believe that Suzanne has an associate degree.  Grandson Jimmy Jr. has a professional job as a Marketing consultant.  Other grandson Eric is a medical nurse at a Westchester County hospital.  Granddaughter Kristine just graduated from college.  She will be a caregiver.

 My sister and her family are primarily business owners or business oriented, and have developed their success in life along those lines. Some of their offspring are inclined toward art and other creative pursuits, and hold degrees in those areas.  All are intelligent, well-adjusted productive citizens.

 So, from peasants in Poland 150 years ago, and poor dirt farmer immigrants in New England some 120 years ago, and blue-collar workers 100 or so years ago, the extended family has evolved into an Engineering, Medical, Information Technology and Business and Art professional class.

 As the first and oldest of this panoply to go to college and get an engineering degree, I guess I’ll have to proudly take credit for being the patriarch of this extended family, and the instigator of this movement from peasantry to professional.  I have lived a long life, and like for many of us, there has been some strife and disappointment in my life.  But this has been tempered with many joys, not the least of which is seeing all the people coming up after me, who are living happy and well adjusted lives.

 Ray Gruszecki

June 7, 2023