Antonina Barwacz

Antonina Barwacz nee: Kruzel, age 92, of Schaumburg. Beloved wife for 52 years to the late Mieczyslaw; Devoted mother of Bogdan (Josie) Barwacz, Lillian (John) Oleszczuk, George (Paula) Barwacz and Barbara (Steve) Sisk; Loving daughter of the late Antoni and Maria Kruzel; Dear sister of Stanislaw and Wladyslawa; Dear grandmother of Tommy, Jennifer, Gina, Adam, Anthony, Katie, Lauren and Matt; Dear great grandmother of Delaney, Sydney, Luke and Amelia.
Over the years I learned a lot about our mom’s history some of it funny and interesting some painful. So I would like to recount some of the best memories of the stories mom told me. It shed some light on the person she really is.
I guess our mom was pretty funny. She told me when she was a young girl, her and her friends met on a regular basis when their chores were done. She said they would all wait sitting under a tree for her to arrive because she was the one who told the best stories, or made up stories shall we say. Needless to say when they discovered the stories she told were nothing but a ruse they all chased her mercilessly.
Mom was born in Tarnow Poland on My 24th 1927. I have that cemented in my brain because it was her garage code and it took me three visits to realize that. What is remarkable is that after our father passed away on January 23, 1997, she was in shock at first but then she managed to live her life with her children’s help for the next 23 years. She was so frugal living on a modest income but her house as anyone can attest was nothing short of a shrine in terms of cleanliness. So that is another subject I guess we should discuss since it characterizes our mom.

The following are feflections from her youngest daughter Barbara :
Growing up I know my mom had OCD with regard to cleaning. Of course back then no one knew what OCD was but trust me it was real. It was not enough to wipe the counter once or twice, noooo we had to wipe that counter like multiple times, and if you walked on the recently vacuumed carpet with all the perfect rows well that was not a good thing.

This obsession really had a positive aspect in terms of our house was always perfect including outside which she attended to since my dad had long hours. But it could also drive you crazy!!!!

But getting back to her funny side. She told me that she worked for Zenith for eight years cleaning offices. She said those were the happiest years of her life in this country because she loved the camaraderie with her Polish co-workers. She recounted how break time was the best part of her shift. She had the ladies in stiches laughing at her stories. Yes mom was a character.

Coming to this country was a challenge and while in transit on 11/22/1963 my parents were told that the President of the United States was assassinated. This was of course President John F. Kennedy. So here we were coming to a new country with this terrible thing that had just happened.

With four children, I being the youngest at 3 years old, it was quite an adjustment. But we lived in a great neighborhood and belonged to the Catholic Church and attended school there so those times were actually some of the best times I can remember of growing up.

Our mom had a lot of hardships from losing her own mom at the age of 7 and then enduring other struggles in her later life. But I found that when I spoke to her about my own problems and being angry about this or that she always preached forgiveness and she prayed for her family nonstop. She was also proud of her children and what they have achieved in this country.
I’m pretty sure God has a good place for her right now. Rest in peace mom.