Stanley J .Blaszczak

Today is my Dad’s 90th birthday.  I am sad that I cannot be with him on this special day.

My father is the embodiment of what it is to be an American.  He was born of immigrants in Hamtramck, the Polish section of Detroit, Michigan, September 16, 1921.  His early years can be described as typical for kids of immigrant families of that time.  An almost Lord of the Flies environment existed in his neighborhood where survival was your responsibility and you got only the respect you earned.  Sometime it took wits and sometimes fists to establish your credibility.  That same dynamic also existed within his family and the families of his peers as well. 

After leaving home at a young age and supporting himself as a laborer during the depression, he joined the U. S. Army in 1939 and served until the end of WWII.  While waiting for deployment to the South Pacific he was stationed at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan.  As the guest of a local family he met and eventually married Becky Abbey, the younger daughter of that host family.

After the war Stan used the skills he learned in the Army to work as a mechanic for the Bell Telephone System.  He excelled at many positions in the phone company because of his ability to quickly and logically diagnose and fix things.  Along with my mother he raised two sons.  My brother and I graduated from college and became very successful in our fields.  Stan worked hard, fought for his country, was very generous with his time, knew how to laugh and make things fun, was the best Scoutmaster there ever was, taught me how to fix things and know the difference between right and wrong.

I will never know the extent of his influence, both positive and negative, that has helped make me who I am today.  Sometimes his actions were well intentioned, but poorly executed.  As a father of my own children I understand him more every day.  I am grateful for all of his influence because no matter what was done it was always with a loving heart. 

Stan in a widower for a second time and living in Las Vegas, Nevada



WSZYSTKIEGO  NAJLEPSZEGO, TATO
(Happy Birthday, Daddy)