My beloved father in law....
I cannot describe in words how much I actually respect and worship my father in law. He has to be one of the most amazing men I have ever had the honor to met, thus later being related to. It truly is quite the honor to carry his name as well as to have the only son that will bear the family name forever.
My father in law grew up in Poland in the 20's and 30's. In the early 1940's he was conscripted into force labor under the Nazi's. He and a friend were simply walking along the road when German officers rounded them up. He spent the rest of the war in Germany in labour camps. He had the job of moving supplies and repairing building, vehicles, etc. The guards at the various camps were so cruel when they were drunk they used to pull all the forced labour men out for "exercise drills" at all hours of the night. Rain, cold, sleet, etc...
When allied forces would bomb near or on the bases the soldiers all hold refuge in their bomb shelters, but my father in law and the other prisoners could only crawl under their bunks.
One of the other prisoners was a Russian officer who would ridicule my father in law as well as other prisoners
for their faith, claiming to be an atheist. During one of the night bombings, between explosions... my father in law heard The Lord's Prayer being prayed in perfect Russian. (my father in law knows about 11 or so languages) When he confronted the officer the next day the Russian admitted that he believed.... and his grandmother taught him the Lord's Prayer. The Russian officer had to publicly profess to be an atheist to survive under communism.
In April of 1945 the prisoners woke up to find the prison gates wide open and the camp deserted except for two German soldiers. They told the prisoners that the allies were coming and they are free to go. The Russians were one mile east, the British were two miles south and the Americans were two miles west. They could go where they wanted but the German soldiers were going to the Americans. After a few years in various refugee camps and a stint in the British Military, he finally came to America in 1950 and settled in Joliet, Illinois - the same town his parents were married in before they moved back to Poland around 1920.. (which is also the SAME town my husband served as a Pastor for almost two years)
After completing his schooling/college he entered into management into Catapiller as a supervisor. In 1957 he and two colleagues took a vacation to New England. When they arrived to Bennigton Vermont one of them called to meet an old army buddy. He was not at home , however, his mother invited them to the home to wait for him. When they arrived, the first person to great him was Anne, the friend's sister. My father in law fell in love with her on first sight. She was interested in one of his friend's (Dick) and they went to a Polish dance that night and my father in law pulled her aside and told her that he (Dick) had been married before and in the 1950's a good Polish Catholic girl did not marry a divorced man. So... she turned her sights on my father in law. Funny thing is..... Dick is now my Husband's Godfather.
On Labor Day 1957 Chester ( my father in law) proposed to Anne but her mother was against it. For the next six months they spoke daily by letters and weekly by telephone. Grandma still resisted, but grandpa told her that it was time to let her daughter go. And they were married six months later.
They were happily married for almost 25 years when Anne died tragically of breast cancer. They have five beautiful children (three girls and two boys) and now ten grandchildren.
Anne has never met any of her grandchildren, which is so sad for she was a wonderful lady and a great honor to her family. Also.... until her death....none of the children knew that their mother (Anne) was a former nun prior to my father in law and was "polietly" asked to leave the Abby because she had a mind of her own.... she is just like my DH who is a Pastor.
Anyway....... with this LONG story.... the picture you see is my loving father in law..... sipping his well deserved margarita.... without a staw no less.... with my sister in law Susie.
