Chapter 6 - 1941 Jane Borsuk Meets Joseph Zywar

Chapter 6 Version 2

1941

Everyone has his own view on the topic. Maybe you just like the sound of a name. Maybe a name reminds you of someone you know or aspire to emulate. Sometimes a grandparent’s name is used to name a baby or a parent’s or a great-grandparent’s name is used.

“We need to get our birth certificates if we want to get after school jobs in the stitching office in the mill” said Aurelia as she and Jane walked into the town clerk’s office at the town hall. The stitching office was not really an office but there was stitching to be done. Snaps to connect stockings to girdles were sewed in the stitching office.  Aurelia asked the town clerk for a copy of her birth certificate.

“We don’t have an Aurelia Zywar born on August 18^th 1926 but there is a record for an Elizabeth Aurelia Zywar on that date. Do you want a notarized birth certificate?” asked the clerk. Aurelia was momentarily stunned as she realized that Aurelia was her middle name and her first name was Elizabeth. No one had ever called her Elizabeth.

“Well, that is my birthday and I don’t know of any other Zywar in Easthampton born on that date so it must be me.” said Aurelia who now knew her name was Elizabeth. “Yes, I want a notarized copy.”

Then it was Jane’s turn. “Do you have birth certificate for Jane Borsuk?” she asked.

Her mother had a sister named Janina, Jane in Polish. Her Aunt Leokadia also had a child named Janina who died as an infant.  If her name was Jane, that name may have served a dual purpose.

“I have a Jennie Borsuk born on February 5, 1926” said the clerk.

“That is not my name” said the girl who thought her name was Jane but apparently was Jennie. Her family always called her Janie which was her nickname. When her father had come to report the birth, the name Janie morphed into Jennie. “I need to have Jane as the name” said Jane/Jennie to the clerk.

“The only way I can change it is if you get your parish priest to give me a document that says your name is Jane” said the clerk. So Jane/Jennie saw the parish priest and he gave her a document that Jane/Jennie brought back to the clerk. As she unfolded it to give it to the clerk her heart sank as she saw that the priest had put her Polish name Janina on the document. “Now Janina is Polish for Jane so Jane should be put on the birth certificate” she told the clerk expecting to be sent back to get the document from the priest changed to say “Jane”. But the clerk took the document and from that day on Jane was her legal name.

Two days earlier and the name of Patrick may have been given to the fourth son of the Zywar family but March 19^th is the feast of Saint Joseph and it may have been a coincidence that he grew up to be a carpenter. The Polish had a tradition of naming a baby after the saint associated with that day of the year. So Joseph John Zywar was born six years after Stanley on St. Joseph’s day. Joe was also the first male son born after the death of his grandfather, Joseph Gajewski, four years earlier so that may have been a consideration with all signs indicating that Joseph was the intended name.

When Joe was a toddler, he tripped and fell bottom first into a bucket of boiling water being readied to wash the floor. The burn was severe and he could not wear diapers for months while the burn healed. His mother Helena carried him around most of that time.

“Joe, it’s just like getting your hair cut” said older sister Mary as she carefully cut off Joe’s long eye lashes. But the eye lashes did eventually grow back. And eventually Joe’s blond hair turned dark brown as Joe graduated from Parson’s St. school and went to Easthampton High School.

Joe stayed at Easthampton High for one year and transferred to Chicopee Trade School where he studied to be a machinist for one year. He needed to be a resident of Chicopee to go to that school so he used his aunt’s address in Chicopee. In Joe’s mind rules were just something that needed to be circumvented. Joe finished his formal schooling in 1939.

“Joe gave the vegetables away again?” his father shook his head in disbelief.

 The Zywars were an entrepreneurial family. Mother Helena was a sales agent for a mail order company. His father was a milk distributor with a route traveled with a horse and wagon when he didn’t work as a weaver in the mills. Joe was supposed to take his little red wagon and sell vegetables to the neighbors but he ended up just giving them away. Joe liked to nurture the plants into abundance that exceeded his family’s needs. The excess was not viewed as a way gain monetary wealth but to be shared with neighbors and friends giving Joe great satisfaction.

Jane and Aurelia were sitting on the front porch at Aurelia’s house on Ferry St. during the summer of 1941. A car containing three young men pulled into the driveway. The car was not new but it looked to be well maintained. The three exited the car and sat down on the porch stairs. Aurelia introduced Jane to two of her brother Joe’s friends and then said “and this is my brother Joe”.

Joe extended his hand and Jane shook hands. As soon as their hands touched, a distinctly male voice in Jane’s head said “This is your husband.” To this voice, a reply was launched immediately and without any hesitation whatsoever in Jane’s mind “No way.”