My paternal grandparents both immigrated with their parents when they were young and their families settled in Illinois and Wisconsin. As Polish and Lithuanian immigrants, they grew up and lived on the Southside of Chicago.
Several years ago, with Terri working in Midland and me at the CAF, several of us would frequent a little place in Midland called “The Taste of Chicago” – Real Chicago hot dogs! We got to know the owners and their son. Their son was one of Terri’s students at UTPB when she was an Adjunct Professor. One day I met his dad and told him that my dad grew up on the Southside of Chicago. The dad looked me up and down and said “well then, you must be Polish, because you sure ain’t Black.”
Our daughter is going through what little family history we have on my father’s side, starting with a couple of notes that my mother had. We’ve always wondered what the original family last name was and Heather may have found it through a marriage certificate that appears to be my grandparents. It came from a church in Chicago, but is hard to read the long hand name. We do now have a fairly good idea of the name and how it’s spelled. We plan to make a trip to Chicago next year to the Polish Center to do more research and will share more when we can confirm it.
What little history I got from my Dad before he passed, and our research so far, showed that my grandmother (everyone called her “Mom”) became head of the household after my grandfather passed away. My Dad was 13 and had an older sister, my aunt. My aunt married a “flyboy” after WWII and we cousins grew up in Odessa and “Mom” would come to visit. All I remember of her was that she was a spitfire!
Years later I learned that she spoke 5 languages (Dad said she actually spoke a 6th language. When she used it, everyone ran!). Also, found through old photos, that she had her own real estate business in the Southside and basically ran the Southside of Chicago. Dad had told me that if someone wanted a job as a police officer or a fireman, they came to her first. When someone was in trouble, she would hide them in the attic of their home until she could straighten out what was going on.
During my life, I’ve observed and learned so much from my family and the stories over the years. With the number of our kids friends that needed a place to stay and our becoming a mediator, Terri and I feel like we come by it naturally. Trying to bridge communication across generations, across communities, within families and across the tables in mediations is just part of who we are.
Between “Mom” and my mother, (soon another story), as well as Terri’s side, we also know where our four granddaughters get their strong, independent streak from.
I can’t wait to see where their leadership goes!
– Clay Francell
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