Jadwiga Zamorski

Jadwiga Maria (Land) Zamorski was born to loving parents Joseph and Janina Land on July 21, 1925 in Zawrzyniec, Poland. Along with her two older brothers; Bruno and Richard, Jadwiga grew up in a peacefully picturesque southeastern Poland countryside home. She was an active member of many youth groups, an honor student, and an avid poetry writer. On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. This action resulted in the Western Allied nations to declare war on Germany; World War II began in earnest causing havoc and senseless destruction to millions of families all across Europe. At the age of fourteen, young Jasia, as she was called, along with her parents and a reported 1.5 million Polish families, were deported to Kazakhstan in western Russia. There, in horrid conditions she spent the next five years trying to survive the harsh life of labor camps set up throughout Siberia. During the exile, the family was further separated. Her oldest brother, Richard, was commissioned as an officer in the Polish Army and went off to fight along with the Resistance movement. Her other brother, Bruno, made his way to Britain, and enlisted with the Allies serving in the British Naval Forces, fighting the Germans on the Western front. World War II came to a close. Most deported families never made it back to their homeland, dying in the Siberian wilderness. Jadwiga and her Mother persevered, and were some of the fortunate ones to return to their war-devastated homeland. Picking up the pieces of a torn life and carrying for her Mother, she married Adam Zamorski and settled in Wroclaw, a major population center in southwestern Poland. There, she started a family, raising her son John, and returned to an otherwise normal life. Bruno Land, Jadwiga’s older Brother, had made his way to the United States after the war and with the help of the Red Cross successfully found his family now living in Wroclaw, Poland. He came to visit his Sister and Mother and their new family in 1961. Plans were made for the emigration of the whole family to the United States, and in the fall of 1963, Jadwiga said goodbye to her beloved homeland and made her way across the vastness of the seas to settle in her new home; the United States of America. Life progressed. She lost her beloved life partner and husband, Adam, to cancer in 1969. Years later, her son, John went off to college. Her Mother Janina passed away in 1977. Jadwiga found herself alone, but happy to be independent and working. She was employed as a Quality Control Inspector working for a company that manufactured night-vision equipment for the Defense Department. She continued living in Springfield, Massachusetts, and upon reaching retirement age, she once again picked up her belongings and with the help of her son and his newly established family, moved to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin taking up a new life in her own home near Fowler Lake. She went to work as a part-time employee of Leather-Rich, working in garment restoration. She also spent time helping in the raising of her Grandson Richard, finally coming to a peaceful plateau of life. She spent twenty-four years in Wisconsin, coming to love her new home. She loved flowers, crafts, poetry and books and was very active in church affairs at St. Jerome’s Catholic Church. Years later, as she aged past the point of being able to care for her own home, Jadwiga moved to Wilkinson Manor, an Independent Living Facility where she spent the remainder of her life among her many new friends and acquaintances. Her friends knew her as a person who truly loved living, a friend to all she met, having a kind word and a smile to all whom she came in contact with. She passed away peacefully in her bed on Saturday, September 13, 2014 being survived by her Son John, Daughter-In-Law Brenda, and her loving Grandson Richard, all of Delafield, Wisconsin. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at Pagenkopf Funeral Home located at 1165 Summit Ave, Oconomowoc, WI 53066. Visitation hours will be from 5pm to 7pm with a short service held afterwards. Her remains will be flown to Chicopee, Massachusetts where she will be laid to rest in her family plot next to her husband, her brother, and her mother.