Janina S Pasieniuk

Janina Stachowicz Pasieniuk was born on January 14, 1931 in Grzegorew, Poland to Jan Stachowicz and Lottie Zurawik Stachowicz. She was the oldest of 4 children. Janina grow up tending to animals and the garden on her dad’s farm. For her, it was idyllic life. When she was 8 her life changed dramatically when her mom died from tuberculosis. Since she was the oldest, she helped care for her younger siblings. Shortly after mother’s death the Nazis invaded Poland.

Her first encounter with Nazis was the day they shot her beloved herding dog because it was barking at invaders. During the Nazis occupation of Poland the family was separated. Her dad was sent to a prisoner of war camp and the children went to a German farm with their aunt and

uncle's family. The German farmer asked the Nazis to let their father out of prison so he could help on the farm. Janina said he was hardly recognizable because the Nazis starved him and he had lost half of his body weight but he was one of the lucky ones to still be alive. When the war

ended, her dad and uncle didn’t want to go back to Poland because the Russian occupiers were imprisoning former government officials like her uncle. From 1945 to 1949, both families were in refugee camps waiting to immigrate to any country that would take them. Finally in 1949, the families were granted permission to come to the United States. They sailed to the United States and entered at Ellis Island, New York. As a condition of their displaced person status, they had to have a sponsor with a job. The families were forced to separate because they had different sponsors in different parts of the country. Janina’s sponsor was a local banker in Albion, Nebraska where she was employed as a housekeeper. While in Albion, she was befriended by

Jackie Christo and they became lifelong friends. After a few years, she moved back to Chicago to be reunited with her family. She got a job at the Peter Pan peanut butter plant. After the move to Chicago, she started dating George, who she had met at the refugee camp. George worked

in Gary, Indiana. They exchanged letters before getting together. Janina and George married January 15, 1955.

They bought a house in an immigrant neighborhood in Brighton Park. While in Chicago they had two boys Ted and John. George was working as a machinist at Western Electric. In 1959 the Chicago plant was downsizing and they had to make a choice to either move to Columbus, Ohio

or Omaha, Nebraska. Janina knew right away she wanted to go to Omaha to be closer to her best friend Jackie. They built a house in the new Prairie Lane development. Janina and George added three daughters Christine, Cathy and Nancy to their family. Janina was a stay at home mother for many years. In 1970 she started working at Western Electric on the night shift but still managed everything at home like always. Janina always had a large garden. She loved

canning. She was an excellent cook and loved to bake. She also loved to sew. She always made the girls matching dresses. She also loved plants and had a green thumb. She could bring a dead plant back to life. In 1991 she retired after George had and they started to enjoy a quiet retirement life. She enjoyed all 9 of her grandchildren. Janina lost the love of her life in 2021 after 66 years of marriage. Janina is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, brother Roy Stachowicz, sister Mary Juryta and special friend Jackie Christo. She is survived by sons Ted(Jean) and John. Daughter Christine(Ken) Davis, Cathy(Mark) Juliano and

Nancy(Doug) Howe. Grandchildren Chad(Jaime), Laura(Kyle), Joe(Meghen), Vinnie(Jannice), Zach(Ashley), Domanick(Morgan), Felicia(Jeremy), Max(Alex), Alexis(Jesse) and 10 great grandchildren. Also survived by brother Casey(Frances) Stachowicz and many nieces and

nephews. Also the family of Jackie and Max Christo.