Necklac-Lee: Great Grandma Agnes

Monday, July 26, 2010

Great Grandma Agnes

Her husband of 50 years told her "you have more guts than money" to come alone with two boys to Canada.
Stanislaw "Stan", a brick layer, had applied for refuge in Canada after the war was over. He left in march and Great Grandma and their two boys came after in October.
After a 10 day trip on the boat from France to Quebec they took a train to PA (Prince Albert), another 3 days and 3 nights enroute. She did this with a 6 year old and 4 year old boy, traveling into a Country she had never seen nor did she speak the language.

Today she is fluent in polish, french and english and has the most distinguished "polenchish" accent ever.
She told me all about the war and her family. How hard life was and how she had to watch her siblings during Nazi bomb attacks while her mom was out working. She was told to stay indoor for 30 minutes after the bombings because of falling rubble. She would ride her bike to the black market to buy 36 kg of flower and sometimes was she so tired that she just fell off the bike.
She told me about food rationing; 3/4 bottle milk per day for babes under 8 months and 100g meat per person per week. Life was tough and so is she.
If you look at Great Grandma's face and hands you can see all the hard work and labor, all the hard times and the good times and you can feel her deep love for her family and her countries ... I think she loves all three of them.

She had an old-fashioned husband who worked hard to provide for his family and to build a life for her and their sons and he expected the same from her and his boys. He didn't like her to wear jeans and dinner had to be on the table by 6:00pm. And to this day she tears up when she talks about him (he passed away some years ago) and says she still thinks sometimes he lays next to her.

What a life and what a story. She is one my favorite people in this world whom I have come to love like my own Omi (Grandma). She is kind and funny, sincere and caring and very, very stubborn ... a girl after my heart!!! Both of the Ls have her name and my Omi's name. We are so fortunate that our girls know their Great-Grandmas and we hope that by giving them their names they will always carry a piece of them with them ... forever.

Pat and his Grandma