My grandmother came to South Bend, Indiana from Poland in the early 1900's. Her plan was to return to Poland after accompanying another young lady who was to be married in South Bend. When grandma got to South Bend, no one had the money to send her back to Poland. She was stuck in a strange country with no close relatives and not speaking the language.
Someone in the Polish community told her that there was a man named Martin Budzinski who was a widower with children and needed a new wife. She had no options but to marry him and raise his 8 children. She had 3 more children with him, and one of them was my father. When things seemed to be going well, Martin died in the influenza outbreak of 1918. Grandma was now a widow with 11 children to raise in a strange country.
The oldest son, Leo Budzinski took over the responsibility for the family. This is what was done in the days before welfare. He was in his 20's and devoted his life to taking care of his brothers, sisters and step-mother. Leo never married, but raised all of his 10 brothers and sisters to be responsible and productive adults. My grandma died when I was still quite young, but I do remember that she never learned to speak English very well, and the family conversed with her in Polish.
I am very proud of my family and my heritage.
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