Stella Helen Wojtalewicz Cychosz

[Family history is not only important to the members of that family unit but it can also be instructive, enjoyable and nostalgic to others in the larger community. We, therefore, offer our readers the following two family interviews conducted by two members of a Wisconsin History class at SPASH. Each interviewed their grandmother about growing up in Portage County "way back when".]

Lisa Cychosz interviewing Stella Cychosz, November 26, 1984.

Full name: Stella Helen Wojtalewicz Cychosz
Born: April 12, 1921
Parents: Catherine Wisniewski and Joseph Wojtalewicz

Q. WHAT WAS IT LIKE GOING TO SCHOOL?

A. It was a two mile walk to Pulaski School started in September, but we (her and her siblings) didn't go till October after we finished harvesting the potatoes. I remember that there were pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and we kept asking the School Board for a picture of Pulaski, which we never got. The one room school house had blackboards on two sides of the room, the furnace was in the back corner, and the pencil sharpener was in back also. I remember that we got our supplies from the teacher, a pencil cost 1 cent, a box of crayons 5 cents and we never had much paper. In the morning around 10:15 we had a 15 minute recess, usually the boys would bring a ball or bat, and the girls would sometimes play ball with them, play jacks, and there wasn't much for the girls to do. In the afternoon, about 12:15, we would have another recess, there was a bell outside that we would take turns ringing when recess was over. In the winter, if it was below zero we could sit around the stove, that was usually fun because we would goof around a bit. A boy in class would keep the stove going. There was a pump outside, in the morning we would bring a pitcher of water in the school. Everyone in the school used the same cup, so if one had a cold everyone would have one. We would always take our own lunch to school. Our lunch pail was an old two quart bucket from syrup that had a hole cut in the top. For lunch we got lard sandwiches, sometimes salted pork, apple, and on rare occasions if very lucky jam. In the spring we always walked down to the woods and picked arbutus, they were small white and pinkish flowers that smelt very sweet. I haven't seen those wild flowers since those days. The younger children got out of school earlier than the older ones. I remember waiting for my sister one day and a girl my age was pushing me around, well I hit her in the head with my lunch pail and then without looking at what damage I did, I ran home. The next day I pretended I was sick and didn’t go to school because I thought this girl would have a big hole in her head. After that day she never pushed me around again.

Q. WHAT WAS IT LIKE AT HOME?  WHAT KIND OF THINGS DID YOU HAVE TO DO?

A. When we would be walking home from school we would always look in the pantry window before dinner. We would carry in wood, help with supper, do dishes, feed chickens, in the summer work in the garden, watch the younger ones, my brothers did the chores in the barn, and do our studies. I always remember my mom mending overalls for the boys and making us mittens and hats.  I had only two dresses, one for school and one for church. We always wore hand downs no matter if they were fitted or not. In the winter evenings we would make popcorn. We would sleep three in a bed in the winter. I hated being the one in the middle, but we always took turns. In the summer we slept in the attic.

Q. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR A BIRTHDAY OR A HOLIDAY?

A. The first birthday cake I got was when I was eight years old. Normally we didn't celebrate birthdays like we do now; but my baby sister died the day before that’s why we had cake. One year my birthday was on Easter Sunday so my sister that lived uptown brought a cake over for my birthday and Easter. We never got presents. At Christmas we would get a little package that contained an apple, orange, popcorn ball, and a few pieces of candy. My oldest brother, Roman, would dress up as Santa and give us a package. We always had a tree and decorated it with fancy balls, but we were never allowed to put candles on the tree. We would make a star by taking the shiny foil out of an old bag of tobacco and paste it on cardboard. We never gave presents to each other.

Q. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO GO TO TOWN?

I didn't go to town till I was about seven years old, and we didn’t go often.

Q. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO GO TO CHURCH?

When I was twelve, I had to go to Sacred Heart in Polonia because in order to make my First Communion I had to go to a Catholic school for a year. It was six miles to this school; every morning we would go to church. One morning there was a wedding, this was the first time I ever saw a bride or a wedding. I thought the bride was beautiful.

WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?

There usually wasn't much free time, but sometimes we would play ball or go to the neighbors to play with the kids and their swing set. When my mother would be gone the bigger kids would play tricks on the smaller children. Like, the older one would put a coat over the head of the smaller one and tell him that they would see stars, then pour  water down the sleeve. We would get in a lot of fights, but I think we were all very close.