12.06.07

Assignment: Bring Wire Hanger and Tissue Paper

Posted in Daily Journal, Advent Calendar at 12:10 am by Administrator

Sister Marie DeLourdes gave our first-grade class an unusual assignment in December 1961.

Each student was to bring in one wire clothes hanger and a supply of tissue paper in whatever colors we wanted.

My mother looked at the list, went to the front hall closet, chose a wire hanger, and dug out a bag of tissue paper in the required colors. Somehow, she always had the supplies we needed for school squirreled away somewhere, ready for any eventuality. Need No. 2 pencils? She had them in her desk. Need a spiral bound notebook? There was a supply of those, too. Need blunt-nose safety scissors? Absolutely. But how did she know I would need colored tissue paper?

The day for the wire hanger and tissue paper adventure arrived and I dutifully brought my supplies to school. I hung my coat in the cloak room, removed my galoshes and toted my bag of tissue paper into the classroom.

After our morning prayers and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, Sister Marie DeLourdes gave us our instructions.

“All right, students, take your wire coat hanger and stretch it out so that is forms a circle,” she said, demonstrating the process with a coat hanger she held in front of the classroom. “Now, cut your tissue paper into strips, about an inch wide and eight inches long.” She held up a sheet of tissue paper so we could see how to cut the paper.

“When you’ve finished cutting the tissue paper into strips, wrap the strips around the hanger so that the middle of the piece of tissue paper is tied to the hanger and the ends are free, like so…,” and she showed us how.

One student raised her hand.

“Sister, mine doesn’t look right,” the student said.

Sister Marie DeLourdes inspected the situation. Rather than bringing tissue paper, the student had brought toilet tissue.

“Well, do the best you can, dear,” Sister Marie DeLourdes told her, reassuringly.

We all worked industriously to add more and more strips of tissue paper to our hangers. Some students worked with green tissue paper, some with red, and some with white. Some even alternated the colors so their hangers became kaleidoscopes of color.

Some time later, when everyone had finished and the hangers were covered, Sister Marie DeLourdes asked us, one-by-one to bring our finished Christmas wreaths to the front of the room to show the class.

Every one was different, each a work of art. Even the toilet tissue wreath looked wonderful.

“When you take your wreaths home, you can hang them up using the hook at the top of the hanger,” she told us. “I’m sure these will be a wonderful addition to your Christmas decorations.”

And they were. My mother was so impressed that she asked me to make two more so she could hang one from each of the three bay windows in the living room. Our relatives and neighbors were so impressed that they offered to pay me to make tissue paper wreaths for them. And so, I took orders to make wreaths in custom colors and patterns.

At the age of six I had become an entrepreneur.

Written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Day 7.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

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My Mother, Clerk

Posted in Daily Journal, Directories, Niedzialkowski, Occupations at 12:01 am by Administrator

In 1944, my grandparents were listed in the city directory with three of their five children. My mother, Jane A. Niedzialkowski, is listed as a clerk. This occupation is different from her occupation of key punch operator as listed in the 1943 directory

Kostanty, Helen, Raymond, Jane, and Frederick Niedzialkowski are listed in the 1944 Worcester Directory published by R.L. Polk & Co. The eldest child was married and living outside this household. Another child was still too young to be listed.

Curiously, my grandfather also seems to be listed a second time in the same directory, residing at a different address.

Worcester Directory 1944 Entry for Kostanty and Helen Niedzialkowski and Family

Worcester Directory 1944 Entry for Kostanty Niedzialkowski

SOURCE: Massachusetts City Directories, Worcester 1944, page 632, Kostanty Niedzialkoski; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 03 December 2007); citing Polk’s Worcester (Worcester County, Mass.) City Directory Vol. 1944 CI. 1944. Boston, MA: R.L. Polk & Co.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Worcester Directory 1944 Entry for Kostanty and Helen Niedzialkowski and Family. The brief record states the following:

Kostanty Niedzialkowski resided at 40 Barnes av;
his wife Helen also resided at 40 Barnes av;
his son Raymond was in the United States Coast Guard and resided at 40 Barnes av;
his daughter Jane worked as a clerk for Grafton & Knight and resided at 40 Barnes av; and
his son Frederick was in the United States Navy and resided at 40 Barnes av.

Konstanty Niedzialkowski is also listed as a set-up man at Worcester Pressed Steel Co. who resided at 100 Barber av.

In both entries, the surname is misspelled. In the first entry, the name is spelled Nieczialkowski and in the second entry the name is spelled Niedzalkowski. My grandfather’s first name is spelled Kostanty in the first entry (which is the way he usually spelled his name) and is spelled Konstanty in the second entry (which is the proper way to spell the name).

The name Damian Niedzialkowski again appears in the directory (misspelled as Damiam Niedzalkowski). He may or may not be related to my grandfather, but the circumstantial evidence indicates that he is probably a distant relative.

One of the most interesting parts of this directory entry is that the family now resides at 40 Barnes Avenue, the house which my grandparents would live for the rest of their lives. I understand that my grandmother bought the house and that it was entirely in her name. Knowing that this address first appeared in the 1944 directory suggests that the house may have been purchased in 1942 or 1943, and thus will help narrow my search for real estate records for this property.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

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