Stanislaw (Stanley) Dyszynski was born in Torun, Poland on July 9th, 1925, the second son of Karol and Maria. His father was a Captain in the Army and they lived near a base in the small village of Brodnica. His mother was a teacher and died when Stanley was only five years old. He and his older brother Jurek were always extremely close. When WWII broke out they were living in Sambor in southeastern Poland. Russia occupied the area and his father was arrested and sent to a concentration camp near Moscow. In April, 1940, my father along with Jurek, their stepmother and over one and a half million other Poles, were deported to Siberia. In 1942, after two years of forced labor in Markut, Kazakstan, they were released when Russia was attacked by Germany. Russia then became an ally and released many Polish prisoners and their families so they could form an army. Stanley and his family were reunited with his father in Kermine, Uzbekistan. There the 5th division of the Polish army was formed. Stanley’s father was in charge of the camp where Polish civilians as well as military personnel were brought from the USSR. The army fed them all, including our mother’s family who also arrived there from Siberia. My father’s division was then transported first to Iran then to Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt. He trained to serve in the signal corps along with his brother Jurek and our mother’s brother, Zbyszek Malaczynski. While serving with the 2nd Polish Corps under General Anders and under British Command, they took part in operations in Italy including Monte Cassino, and in eastern Italy from Ancona to Bolonia.
At the end of the war Stanley and Jurek decided to immigrate to England where they spent nine months in a resettlement camp before enrolling in the Polish College of the University of London. His army buddy Zbyszek introduced his sister Cesia to Stanley at a dance and they married while he was still a student. Although his father thought they should wait until his studies were finished to marry, my father insisted, “Ta albo zadna” (“Her or no one”). Stanley eventually earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of London. Son Kris and daughter Barbara were born in England. With opportunities limited for foreigners in the UK, they immigrated to America in 1956. Within a few days he was offered an engineering job in Chicago and after one year was transferred to California, where Mary was born.
Stanley had a long distinguished career as a chemical engineer, working first for Liquid Carbonic and then for over 35 years for Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco.
In 1962 he worked on designing fluid servicing systems and equipment for the Apollo space missions. He also worked on the oil sands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, in the 1970’s. In addition, he and his friend, Burt Van Loon, had a side business making chemical standards which they sold to local companies. Our whole family helped with labeling and packaging the products in the evenings and weekends.
Stanley was a wonderful husband, brother, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and uncle. He met life’s challenges with a courage and determination that is truly inspirational. As he approached retirement age and was not quite ready to stop working, he and my mother moved to Bakersfield and then to Tennessee to work for two more years. My parents travelled to England, Canada and Poland several times in later years to visit their siblings and other family. Stanley was always very active in the Polish-American community in the Bay Area. He served as Vice-President and Secretary of the Polish-American Club on the peninsula, and for many years as Treasurer of the Polish Combatant’s Association, SPK.
He loved spending time with his family and many friends, fishing, dancing, playing chess, playing the stock market and listening to music. Stanley’s devotion to his beloved wife Cesia was always evident, especially in the way he cared for her as her health declined.
The family would like to acknowledge and thank Mr. German Mores for his companionship and tender loving care of our father in the last year of his life. Also, thanks to Marie Sanchez, Simon and everyone at Senior Helpers for their support and kindness, and to the nurses and doctors at Kaiser Hospital who cared for him.
Stanley was a part of the Greatest Generation, which sadly is leaving us one by one. Stanley will be remembered as a gentle man with an iron will who will live in our hearts forever. May he rest in peace with the Lord.
Basia Dyszynska-Smolen
Eulogy for S. Dyszynski by Maria Carpenter
Thank you for coming here tonight to celebrate the life of my father, Staszek Dyszynski. He was totally devoted to his wife and family, working tirelessly to support us and make our lives comfortable and feel so loved.
We had wonderful family vacations when I was growing up, going camping and fishing in parks in California and Oregon. My dad loved to fish and would get so excited when he got a fish on his line.
After I got married, my husband, Scott, would take my dad fishing to different local lakes over the years and Tato wouldn’t hesitate to increase the odds of catching a fish by setting up three fishing poles side-by-side on the shore.
One of my favorite memories of my dad is how he would tell jokes. Tato would already be laughing so hard when trying to tell you the joke that you couldn’t help but start to laugh too until we were all laughing with tears in our eyes. When he finally got to the punch-line, you couldn’t understand what he said because he would still be laughing too hard to have the words make any sense.
My dad started a second business with his best friend and fellow chemist, Bert van Loon, in the late 60’s that helped put all of his children through college. I was so happy when I was old enough to help pack tubes into boxes, write invoices, or go to San Francisco with my dad on Saturdays to work alongside the two of them in Mr. van Loon’s garage.
Tato took great care of my mother the last 10 years of her life, driving her to and from dialysis three times a week and preparing meals for her daily. My husband Scott and I have many fond memories of visiting my parents on weekends watching Andre Rieu DVD’s and enjoying my parent’s company.
On behalf of my family, I would like express our sincere thanks to German Mores and Marie Sanchez for the compassionate care they gave my father during the past few years. I would also like to thank Senior Helpers and the doctors and nurses at Kaiser Hospital who gave support and comfort to my dad.
Finally I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my sister, Basia, and her wonderful family for welcoming my father into their home after our mother passed away three year ago. They gave him the love and attention he could not have received any place else.
Eulogy for Stanislaw Dyszynski, by Kris Dyszynski, son
Thank you for coming here today to celebrate the mass for my father and to honor and reminisce on his life. I would like to begin by reading an abridged version of a biography written by my sister Basia (see Obituary and Biography). Then, I will read excerpts from several messages of condolence and share the memories and thoughts which they triggered.
(Here Kris read the Biography of Stanislaw Dyszynski, abridged, by Basia Dyszynska)
Stanislaw (Staszek, Stanley) Dyszynski was born in Torun, Poland on July 9th, 1925, the second son of Karol and Maria...
Excerpts from Emails and the stories, thoughts and memories they triggered
1. Renia Dyszynska, sister-in-law, UK
“I am deeply saddened to hear of Your Father`s death. He was a wonderful, caring man and a real brother to me. I will miss Him very much”
KD comments: Renia and Staszek had a wonderful relationship which spanned many decades. Tato and his brother Jurek, Renia’s husband, were extremely close. The brothers’ appearance and mannerisms were so similar they could pass for identical twins. Several times in the past few years he when calling for assistance, or introducing me, he would address me as Jurek. When Jurek passed away four years ago, Tato wrote in his beautiful eulogy that as children big brother Jurek would defend him in the schoolyard when fights broke out.
2. Nick Malaczynski, cousin in UK, on his visit to US years ago
“He was a really lovely man and I’ll never forget him teaching us how to play Blackjack in the kitchen (before we went on to Las Vegas) after your Mom had gone to bed so that she’d never know…! Both your Mom and your Dad looked after us very well that trip and it ranks as one of the best holidays I’ve ever had.”
KD comments: While generally conservative in nature, he had a bit of a gambling streak in him. After retiring, he put his risk-taking to good use by carefully managing his investment portfolio and tripling its value in just a few years, in daily phone collaboration with first his friend Pan Zaczek, then with his friend Pan Kitajewski.
3. Witold Dudzinski, friend of the family
“Every funeral that I have attended for your family has been for me an inspiration and example of how one should lead their life.”
KD comments: Witek is referring to the fact that in the past several years my mother, Cesia, and the parents of my brother-in-law, Richard Smolen, passed away. They all led exemplary lives. My father was my role model, my inspiration and example. If I could one day say that I became half the man he was, I would be proud and satisfied, because he set the bar very high. Tato was a part of the Greatest Generation which sadly is leaving us one by one. I have many fond memories of family gatherings, playing chess, ping-pong in our garage and fishing. But I was most impressed that he spent less time on his hobbies and pleasures and more time on productive activities such as his 8-5 work, managing investments, paperwork and bookkeeping for the Polish-American Club and the Polish Combatant's Association, and fixing things around the house. For example, when my parents visited us while we lived in Montana, Staszek would fish with me and my children. However, his visits were longer than the vacation time I was able to take, so I would have to work for one or two weeks during his stay. Instead of going fishing while I worked, he decided that he would improve the wooden deck which wrapped half way around my house. He did not like the fact that the large support posts were rotting at their bottoms because they went into the ground, rather than into concrete. He drew up plans, then bought two large floor jacks which are normally used to raise a car so that one could change a tire. During his visits over a several year period, he would methodically support one post of the deck using the jacks, dig a hole under the post, and pour a concrete footing for each post.
In the last 10 years of Mama’s life, my Father faithfully took her to dialysis three times a week, each session lasting 3-4 hours, cooked for her and tenderly took care of her every need.
I would like to acknowledge my sister Mary and her husband Scott for all the weekend days they traveled from Woodland to Redwood City, for years, to cook lunch for Mama and Tato, work hard to maintain a beautiful garden, and re-paint their house.
I would also like to acknowledge my sister Basia, her husband Richard and their children for taking Tato into their home three years ago after Mama, his wife of almost 60 years, passed away. Basia, an ICU nurse, was a tireless advocate for my Father, making sure Tato, and Mama before him, received the best possible care when hospitalized and in skilled nursing facilities.
Thank you, Tato, for the loving, nurturing upbringing which you and Mama gave us, and for your hard work and sacrifice which provided us with the opportunity to lead productive and comfortable lives. We all love you very much and will never forget you.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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