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The
Wrobel Family 1940-1950
The 1940's would bring a series of changes for the Wrobel Family and would end on a tragic note. As the clouds of World War II were gathering, 12-year-old Andy was a newsboy and recalled the shock of the news from Pearl Harbor on the day after December 7, 1941. Fortunately, the war would not last long enough for him to take on more serious duty. Meanwhile, back in Poland, the situation was much more dangerous. The German Wehrmacht occupied the territory of the Podhale, along with the rest of Poland. Andrew's sister Stefania recalls that most of the men were either conscripted into the army or sent to work camps. The infamous Concentration Camp Auschwitz was only about 50 miles away. One day, she was pulled from the fields by a German officer, who led her by hand to the Army headquarters. Not understanding his intent and unable to understand his language, her fears increased as he led her upstairs. Finally, on the fifth floor, they entered a room and his plans for Stefania became clear. On the floor was a huge pile of dirty laundry and she was to wash it! Unable to endure the struggles of wartime, mother Wiktoria passed away in 1943. Back in America, Andrew would not receive the news until years later, when he broke down and wept. After leaving his parents behind at the age of 17, he would never see his father again, and saw his mother only once, during their trip to Poland in 1938. Around the same time, Stefania married Wladyslaw (Walter) Tomala and with their daughter Jean, began to raise a family that would eventually number 12 children.
Wlad Tomala (with daughters Irene and
Josie), his wife Stefania (holding Lottie in her lap) As the war was winding down, Andrew decided to move the family from the Stockyards neighborhood in Chicago, first to an apartment in the suburb of Oak Lawn, then to a farm on the outskirts of the town of Lockport, on Route 7 near Gougar Road. But farming was not to be Andrew's future as wartime rationing made life difficult. His city-raised sons Andy and John also did not take to farming life very well. Andy remembered needing to borrow the family car one day while Andrew was away. Because of a shortage of tires, he was forced to ride into town on the rims, which did not please his father at all when he returned. Through all this, Marianna continued to work in the Stockyards, taking the bus to and from Lockport and then walking the remaining miles to and from the farm. Realizing the impracticality of pursuing his agricultural dream, Andrew sold the farm and bought the Busy Bee Tavern and Picnic Grove on the north edge of Lockport straddling the border with Lemont on route 4A near 135th Street. Times were tough, so he augmented his income by working a factory job. On the suggestion of a friend, who noted there were a lot of people from the South moving into the area to work at the nearby Electro-Motive plant, he converted the Picnic Grove into a trailer park. Eventually, they would add a small convenience store. The family added a new member, as well, as another son named Victor was born in 1947. Here is a shot of all of them together, on the occasion of Vicky's First Communion, around 1948.
Andy would soon meet his wife, Helen Becker, and after months of courtship, which included him serenading her from the street below her apartment above Scheid's drug store in downtown Lockport. They would marry on August 7, 1949, at Saints Cyril & Methodius Church in Lemont. Here we see the loving couple, stopping by the Busy Bee after the ceremony.
Everything seemed to be going well as the decade closed. Business at the Busy Bee was growing slowly, Andy and Helen moved to an apartment in Lockport and in November, 1950, Helen gave birth to Andrew and Marianna's first grandson, David. Marianna was brimming with excitement in anticipation of seeing the baby. A few days later while Helen lingered in the hospital, unable to see visitors (the custom of the day), Andrew and Marianna drove into Lockport for a turkey raffle at Mac's tavern, where Andy was tending bar. When the festive evening was over, Andrew and Marianna got into their car for the short ride home. But they would never arrive. Just blocks from their destination, the car slammed into a gasoline truck loaded with 16,000 gallons of fuel as it was slowly climbing a hill on route 4A. Marianna was killed instantly upon impact. Trapped behind the wheel, Andrew suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. Thankfully, the fuel never ignited and after a months-long hospital stay, he returned to the Busy Bee, where Andy and Helen had come back to help run things while he was recuperating.
Marianna Blaszinski Wrobel (1907-1950) A sweet, loving mother, a hard worker throughout her life and a devoted wife. Poor most of her life, she maintained a pleasant demeanor and displayed a fair-minded approach toward family and friends alike. She was born on January 24, 1907 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and was a longtime resident of Chicago and Lemont. She was laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois on November 22, 1950. According to her obituary in Dziennik Chicagoski on November 20, 1950, her mother's name was Rozalia (apparently her father, John or Jan, was already deceased) and she is noted as living at that time in Poland, along with brothers Leopold and Jan and a sister, Aniela. This was previously unknown, as we up to the discovery of this notice, were aware only of Marianna's sister Antonina Blazonczyk. |
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This page was last updated on May 1, 2004
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