![\"Marianna](\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Nanny-and-Children.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMarianna\u00c2\u00a0Danko and Her Children<\/em><\/p>\n On January 2, 1953, my grandfather died.<\/p>\n For many years after my grandfather’s death, my grandmother lived with my Aunt Helen on Colonie Street in Albany, New York .\u00a0 I remember their apartment well – it was low-income housing in Arbor Hill, one of the poorer sections of Albany.<\/p>\n The best memories I have of my grandmother were from the 1960s .\u00a0 On Sundays after church, my family would go to my grandmother’s apartment and spend the day with Grandmother, whom we called “Nanny Danko” .\u00a0 We celebrated birthdays and holidays with Nanny Danko, and my Aunt Helen would\u00c2\u00a0cook szynka (ham), kielbasa, pierogi, and ziemniaki (potatoes).<\/p>\n Birthdays, especially\u00c2\u00a0Nanny Danko’s birthdays,\u00a0were some of the most festive occasions for us .\u00a0 Nanny loved to hear us sing “Happy Birthday”, and she loved to\u00c2\u00a0watch the lighted candles on the birthday cake, so much so that she refused to blow them out .\u00a0 She would just sit, watch the candles, and smile .\u00a0 Finally, when\u00c2\u00a0we couldn’t stand it any longer, my sisters and I would blow out the candles, and Nanny Danko loved to watch that, too.<\/p>\n Nanny never quite grasped the concept of television .\u00a0 She was convinced that, if she could see people on the television, they could see her, too .\u00a0 She absolutely loved to watch Mitch Miller’s program “Sing Along with Mitch” even though she couldn’t understand the words .\u00a0 Before she would watch Mitch Miller, she would get dressed in her best clothes, do her hair, and place her rocker squarely in front of the television so Mitch could have an unobstructed view of her .\u00a0 I think she may have been sweet on Mitch.<\/p>\n Many times when we visited, Nanny Danko would sit\u00c2\u00a0in a hard, wooden chair in\u00c2\u00a0a corner of the\u00c2\u00a0living room, next to a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus .\u00a0 Periodically, she would pick up the picture and kiss it .\u00a0 I suspect she may have been praying .\u00a0 My father\u00c2\u00a0told us that\u00c2\u00a0she kissed that picture so often, he was surprised she hadn’t worn the picture completely away .\u00a0 I sometimes wonder what became of that picture.<\/p>\n Nanny Danko\u00c2\u00a0had a special sweet spot for her sons and grandsons .\u00a0 Even though she could only speak a few words of English and I could only speak a few words of Polish, I remember spending time alone with her .\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I remember she would run her fingers like a spider crawling up my arm and\u00c2\u00a0across the back of my neck .\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I would laugh (after all, it tickled!) and she would smile.<\/p>\n Every now and then, just as we were leaving for the night, Nanny Danko would go to her bedroom and emerge with three crisp, new dollar bills, one for me and one for each of my sisters .\u00a0 For years my father couldn’t figure out where she got these brand new dollar bills until one day he caught her washing and ironing her paper money .\u00a0 She told him she hated dirty money!<\/p>\n For much of the time I knew her, Nanny Danko was not in the best of health .\u00a0 At one point, she slipped on the ice and broke either her leg or her hip (I don’t remember which) and she had to use a walker thereafter .\u00a0 Even though she saw a doctor for her ailments, she wouldn’t take her medication and\u00c2\u00a0preferred to flush\u00c2\u00a0the pills down the toilet .\u00a0 Even so, she lived to age 90.<\/p>\n Nanny Danko\u00c2\u00a0(with Me in the Baby Carriage)<\/em><\/p>\n I remember that Nanny Danko was always kind and gentle with her grandchildren, but she was very strong willed and she made sure that her own children knew what was on her mind .\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I\u00c2\u00a0seldom knew what she was talking about, since I couldn’t understand Polish well enough to follow the conversation .\u00a0 She called me Sta\u015b, the diminutive name for Stanis\u0142aw (Stanley), but nobody ever corrected her .\u00a0 She was not well schooled, and she couldn’t read and write .\u00a0 Even her spoken language was not well refined; she tended to use Polish\u00c2\u00a0slang<\/a> rather than the proper Polish words .\u00a0 I’m told that instead of the Polish word twarz<\/em> (face)\u00c2\u00a0she used the word g\u0119ba<\/em> (mug, kisser) .\u00a0 But, I guess she never needed a better education – she was a Polish farmer’s daughter who married young, had eleven children, and whose responsibilities were limited to raising the children.<\/p>\n Nanny Danko died on September 8, 1969, shortly after I started High School .\u00a0 I wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral in Worcester, and it wasn’t until years later that I was able to visit her grave .\u00a0 I think of her often, and fondly .\u00a0 Kocham ci, babciu!<\/em><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2006 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I knew my grandmother for 14 years before her death in 1969, and even though I remember her well,\u00a0I honestly can’t say that I knew her well .\u00a0 The problem was that my grandmother never learned to speak English. My … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n