Walking Down Memory Lane
Memories of sitting and swinging on the front porch with his grandmother, Rita Wzorek, came flooding back when 16-year-old Daniel Rossi and his mother Maryann drove up to the house. He told her “That porch needs a swing.”
They were in town to say goodbye to the home (pictured here circa 1925) that had been in their family for three generations and to help get it ready for new owners. Upon Rita’s passing in 2014, the family decided to donate it to Habitat for Humanity of Omaha so that another family could be blessed with the opportunities this house still has to offer.
Andrew and Maryann Sierszynski (circa 1935) in the backyard of the home they built on S. 23 Street in Omaha.
For Maryann and her brother Larry Wzorek, thoughts of the man who built the house prevail. “He was the only grandparent that I knew,” says Maryann, “I remember him as a really gentle man with the bluest eyes.”
Their grandfather, Andrew Sierszynski, (pictured here with his wife Maryann) emigrated from Poland in 1907. He was one of the first to build in the neighborhood and was a founding member of Immaculate Conception Church (ICC).
When Andrew’s daughter Rita was 12-years-old, her mother died. Her four older sisters helped care for her; still that loss coupled with the fact that she was the youngest led father and daughter to grow very close.
After Rita married, she and her husband lived nearby; her father appreciated that. Recalls Larry, “His routine was to go to Mass at ICC, then go to our house and mom would make him breakfast. Then, he’d go home and he always had something he’d be puttering around doing.”
Maryann tells Daniel, “My Aunt Martha worked for Skinner Macaroni and that’s where you got your love of rotini. He would always cook curly noodles and come over to the house. That was Friday lunchtime with Grandpa; having curly noodles with butter and salt. I taught you that curly noodles are the best.”
That makes him laugh. “Now I know why you’ve been raising me this way! And where I got my love of butter and salt!”
Painting a verbal picture she describes the back yard as an orchard and tells Daniel how his great grandfather used to chase squirrels. “He would be out here with a stick, telling them off in Polish. He never learned English.”
Going on she says, “He had a nice apple tree, Granny Smith, and I remember his coming over with applesauce and it was always good.”
Renovations in progress–the house built by the Sierszynski family was donated to Habitat Omaha in 2014. Once it’s complete, the home will be sold to a local family through a no-interest Habitat Omaha loan.
When Andrew died, it was his youngest daughter Rita who purchased the home. Maryann, who was in 7th grade at the time, moved into the house with her parents. Larry, 10-years-older, was living on his own by that time. Rita shared her father’s connection with the land and always had a garden.
Both Maryann and Larry are certain their grandfather would approve, as they do, of the home being sold to a Habitat Omaha Family Partner. Larry summed up their feelings, “It’s one way for a well-built house to continue to have life. Have a family in there and provide the type of shelter and protection that I think our mother and her sisters had from their parents. It’s a fantastic transformation and will go very well with other things that are happening in the area.”
This house is being renovated in partnership with the Neighbors South faith coalition. Upon completion, it was purchased by Rosalinda, a Habitat Omaha Family Partner. View photos from the home dedication.