A Recollection of the Skura Family History

Edited by Edwina Cesario Florian and Anne Pomykala

Adam & Catherine Skura Story

Before World War I, Russian Cossacks invaded the village in Poland where Adam Skura was living. Adam was only a young teenager at the time. The Cossacks had taken every male in town, above childhood age, back to Russia. Adam, along with other male members of his town, was forced to fight in the Russian Army. Catherine Skura could speak five languages including Yiddish. Since she worked on a big estate in Poland in the kitchen washing pots, the family thinks that perhaps this could have been a Jewish family and that was how she learned Yiddish. Although Catherine could speak fluent German, she refused to use that language after the War. They were in the German section of Poland after the partition and life was more than difficult.

Adam and Catherine Skura came separately to the United States in the early 1900s. Adam born 12/24/1879 arrived at Ellis Island on 12/23/1903 at the age of 24 with $12 in his pocket. His last place of residence was listed as Brzoslowa and he reached America from Hamburg, German on the German ship, Blucher, built in 1902 - see manifest.

Catherine and Adam were married in 1905 in Connecticut. The first child, Joseph, died as an infant. They didn’t like the United Sates very much, so they returned home to Poland after the birth of Wanda in the United Sates on October 27, 1908. (Mushy thinks that Wanda was conceived in Poland.) Chet was born two years later in Poland on December 28, 1910. Mush remembers a story that was told to him of his mother and uncle while they lived on a large farm in Poland. Wanda wanted to play a joke on her brother Chet. She told him to play with the tail of a cow. She kept on egging him on to play with the cow’s tail. He kept on playing and playing and playing. Eventually, the cow started to move her bowels. Chet wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way and got warm, moist manure all over him.

With rumors of war coming, they decided to return to the United States just before World War I in 1912 or 1913. Back in America, Catherine gave birth to Helen, born on October 31, 1913. Five years later on September 9, 1918, Edward John was born. Growing up in Stamford Connecticut in the early 1900s was quite different than today. The girls had to do the house work and the boys were favored. When Helen asked her mother why the boys had it so easy, she was told that when they grew up, they would have to work for a living. This did not go over too well with Helen. Eddie was the baby and abused his favored status to irritate Helen. Eddie would often tease Helen by such things as kicking her under the table. When she retaliated, it was only Helen who was in trouble.

On Christmas the family would have a 12 course dinner in honor of the twelve apostles. Helen would giggle and was often sent from the table. Helen also remembered the Polish Catholic Church (St. Joseph’s Holy Name Catholic Church) that they belonged to during their childhood. The Church was very strict, and the pastor’s word was the law of God. When the pastor came into the room, all of the children had to kneel and kiss his ring. In fact, Adam was excommunicated from the Church for not paying his Easter Duty. On his death, he was not allowed to be buried in the Catholic cemetery. Catherine’s grave is in St. John’s Cemetery in Stamford (formerly Greenwich Cemetery). However, Adam was buried on the outskirts (for those without papers), and his grave cannot be located as it was washed away in a flood. Helen writes that Adam was buried in a single grave in section F 673, and that Catherine was buried in Lot 12, Block 52

In America, Adam started a meat house business on Atlantic Street in Stamford with a two story family residence beside the store. Adam’s store was well-known for its aged beef. Many wealthy patrons traveled from Greenwich by horse and buggy to purchase his meat including Al’s family. Mush remembers visiting the meat market with the huge walk in refrigerator and the black slabs hanging on the hooks. He also remembers watching Eddie, Chet and John play ball in the vacant lot across the street. This was a beautiful neighborhood with big Victorian houses. He had a special process of aging the beef, which made it absolutely delicious and worth the extra mile to get. Adam’s meat business was close to the Bozak Funeral Home. The Bozaks were also Polish; and the older and younger generations of both families remained good friends. Mushy remembers that Adam Skura was a very kind and well-mannered man. Both Catherine and Adam addressed everyone with a salutation, Mr. or Mrs. and never forgot to say thank you.

Eventually, Adam brought many relatives over from Poland to the United States. He paid for their transportation as well as their room and board when they got here. Adam had put them up in apartment buildings that he had owned at the time, on Taft Street in Stamford. Adam’s relatives were not only given free housing but free food as well. However, in 1935, things started to change for the Skura family as the United States started to fall into a Depression. Adam was having a hard time making ends meet. When Adam asked for help from his family, they couldn’t help him out. They were encountering financial problems themselves and didn’t have the money to help him.

Adam didn’t understand where all of his money had gone. He thought that he had money, but eventually learned that his wife Catherine had given it all away. Catherine was very religious and gave away most of their savings to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Depression was taking its toll on Catherine, and she began to mentally break down. As Catherine’s condition worsened, Wanda had to help the family out and eventually had to quit school. At the age of 10, she was driving a wooden delivery truck for the family business.

Adam died on September 9, 1935. When he passed away, the family looked at the will, and there was no money there. Catherine had given it all away. They needed to raise $300 in back taxes to save the house and business on Atlantic Street in Stamford. They couldn’t raise the money and lost everything – the house and the business. Everything that Adam had owned and acquired during his life was lost during the Depression years.

Eventually, Catherine was put into a state mental institution in Newtown, CT. There, she was given very painful shock treatments to try to bring her back. It was torturous. She was in and out of the mental institution for years. They let her go home every once in a while. While Chet and Eddie went to serve their country in WWII, around 1941, Mushy had to check in on his Grandmother Catherine in Stamford. He was sent there for the whole summer which was a very scary experience for a pre-teen. He would take a 20 cent bus ride to Stamford then walk the rest of the way. He remembers how Catherine’s mind was really starting to go. She saw things that were non-existent such as insisting that she saw the devil. Also, her house was only lit with kerosene, no electricity. Mush remembers his grandmother’s German Shepherd, Connie, who liked to lick the ice cream cones that Mush had purchased for him. Mushy also remembers how Grandmother Catherine’s face had pox scars all over. Apparently, she had survived a bout with the small pox when she was a child, before WWI in Poland. When Chet and Eddie returned home to Stamford after the war, they realized that they had to return Catherine to the mental facility. Catherine went back into the Newtown mental institution and never came out. She passed away 12/14/1957 when she was in her late 70’s.

Family Pictures

Other Skura Family Notes

Catherine sometimes used the last name of Maida instead of Marud. Helen writes that there were six children in the family. Joseph never married. John Marud married and had five children and lived in New Haven, CT. Caroline Marud Pesda lived in Stamford. Helen thought she had five children. She married several times and had a farm that the State took for a major highway. With the proceeds from this she built houses for each of her children close to her own house. Mush says this was a Polish custom. There was also a brother in Poland and a sister, the youngest, in Paris, France, who married a Schrieber who taught at the Sorbonne. This sister had two sons that were in the French foreign legion and were killed in Africa. One of Catherine’s sisters married a Ryba and had a son in the Marine Corps who was killed during WWII in Iwo Jima. The offspring supposedly live in Florida and owned a marina and are believed to be very wealthy. The other sister’s married name was Kosloff. Helen corresponded with the Polish families after World War II when there was a great need for help.

Adam Skura had a twin sister, Eve, and two brothers both in Stamford. Joseph was married and had three sons. Frank remained a bachelor. His immigration records show him coming to the United States on 5/10/1909 at the age of 24 and visiting his brother Adam in Stamford. Helen did not know if there were any others still in Poland. Mush remembers a John as part of this family who later settled in Norwalk and had two sons and a grandchild Wendy.

The Story of Wanda Skura and John (Jack) Cesario

By Edwina Cesario Florian

Wanda Skura was very young, about 15 years old, when she met John Cesario (nicknamed Jack), who was the son of Antonio Cesario and Catherine Capeci Cesario. Jack’s father was a very wealthy man. He owned two banks which dealt in international banking between the United States and Italy. Antonio ordered a bride from Italy to come over on a boat to America to marry his son Jack. Jack never even saw the girl. When Jack found this out, he rebelled and eloped with Wanda, who was then 16. Jack and Wanda were married by a Justice of the Peace in Port Chester, NY. Both the Skura and Cesario families were up in arms over the marriage, especially because they were both Roman Catholics. So a week later, Jack and Wanda were married a second time in a church wedding to appease everyone. Jack’s and Wanda’s first child was John A. Cesario born on February 5, 1927. Anthony J. Cesario (Mushy) was born two years later on November 22, 1929. Little Anthony Cesario was a favorite of all the girls. He would snuggle up to them and tell the he loved them. They would respond by saying you are so mushy. The name stuck to this day

Antonio made life very difficult for his son Jack. He didn’t like the fact that Jack married a non-Italian. The Italians strongly believed in respect. Since Jack didn’t follow Antonio’s wishes by NOT marrying Wanda, Antonio believed that Jack had disrespected him. Antonio had animosity against Wanda throughout his whole life. Mushy remembers an incident when he was 4 years old and his father, Jack, had built his brother John Jr. a tent in the backyard, which was made out of canvas and wood. Antonio had owned the property that the tent was built on. Antonio burnt the tent down to show his authority. Jack’s father didn’t have much respect for him, because he had gone against his wishes and married Wanda. Jack and Antonio were not close at all.

Jack served his country in World War I. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and was stationed in Ft. Dix, New Jersey. The Army sent him to officer training school, and he became a second lieutenant, which was very good at the time. Jack spoke 5 languages. He and 4 others, after WWI, were interpreters for President Wilson for the peace talks. During Jack’s service in the Army, he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross. The Commander, who wrote up the report of Jack’s fine accomplishments, wrote it up on three pages. The Army turned the request down. The report was supposed to be an eight page letter.

During his life, Jack had worked for the WPA – a federal work group. His father also put him in charge of a twenty room hotel and bar in the thirties. Wanda sometimes helped in the hotel but Jack was very likely to give away drinks to his friends and was known to make bathtub gin called “White Lightning” during the Prohibition years. His father took the management away before Jack died. While he was in WWI, Jack was exposed to mustard gas. He was in and out of the hospital for years. He supposedly died from the Sclerosis of the liver, from drinking too much. In the week before his death, John made his First Communion and went to the hospital with his robes and ribbons to visit. At the funeral, Mush was considered too young, and was sent to the home of his Aunt O’Neill to be looked after by the servants. He was given strawberry shortcake and treated as a prince. Mush felt it was the best day of his life, not realizing what was actually happening. Jack’s father, Antonio, died in February of 1939. He was a diabetic and blind, and may have died of a heart attack. At the time of his death, Antonio owned 65 pieces of real estate in Port Chester, Greenwich, and Rye. Although Antonio died a rich man, he left his daughter-in-law Wanda nothing. However, he did leave John Jr. and Mushy 1/12^th of a house on Regent St. in Port Chester, which was held by trustees until the boys were 21. Jack died a broke man at the age of 40, in May of 1935. He was survived by his wife Wanda, his two young children, John and Anthony (Mushy), and his father Antonio.

John and his brother Mushy were raised by their mother Wanda who never remarried. They lived in Port Chester, New York at that time. These were depression years. Mush remembers Wanda making two penny soup. She would send Mush to the grocer’s for 2 cents worth of vegetables, a carrot, a celery stalk and some potatoes. Then he would complete the ingredients by stopping at the butcher’s for a “bone for the dog.” Wanda was also innovative in that she cooked for an older family friend, Joe Snow, who bought the food for the meal.

Jack and Wanda’s son John graduated from Port Chester High School in 1944. In high school, he was nicknamed “Johnny Sass.” He entered into the U.S. Navy and served as a Quarter Master on the U.S.S. Columbus during World War II. He did get to Japan at the end of the war. After the Navy, John went to the University of Miami where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Business. Upon graduation, John entered the profession of the stock brokerage business, which he was very successful at and stayed in until his retirement. (It is believed that he was influenced by his Uncle Santo to get into the brokerage business.

Around 1951, while hanging around the Port Chester YMCA, John bumped into Edwina Harbolick who was there for a teen party. He flirted, but nothing became of that. A short time later, they bumped into each other again at Rye Beach while sunning and swimming. After that, they secretly met several times at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester and a romance blossomed. To make a long story short, they got married in Rye, New York on November 6, 1954. After getting married, they lived on Birch Street in Port Chester until their first child John Jr. was born on June 23, 1957. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Windsor Road where their second child was born, Edwina Marie on May 27, 1959. Laurene was born while living on Windsor Road on October 22, 1961. In the summer of 1967, John and his family moved to Riversville Road in Greenwich, CT, where Edwina still lives to this day.

John was very close to his brother Mushy. Whenever Mushy would visit John from Florida, they would sit around the dining room table, reminiscing over the past. Both of them would be hysterically laughing. They both shared the same sense of humor. When John’s children and grandchildren were over, the evening would usually conclude with a quick game of UNO. Sometimes, if John was in the mood, he would enthusiastically retell his joke about an American fighter plane landing on a Japanese aircraft carrier during WWII. John’s children heard him tell that joke over and over throughout their lives and still would burst out laughing every time that he told it.

John’s daughter Laurie remembers a story when she about 3 or 4 years old. John caught her doing a silly dance that he thought was inappropriate. John was furious and brought Laurie up to his bedroom to punish her with “the belt.” He closed the bedroom door. Laurie was hysterically crying, thinking that she was going to get the belt. John then whispered to his daughter that, “when I hit the belt on the bed, you scream and cry to make it seem like I hit you.” He wanted Eddie and Johnny to think that Laurie was being punished. Laurie was confused. John said to this daughter, “I could never hit you, I could never hit you, just pretend ‘Buggy’.” So, John belted the bed, and Laurie was crying and laughing at the same time.

John’s daughter Edwina (Eddie) gave him 4 grandchildren whom he adored – Thomas, Kiersten, Alex, and Dylan. John loved to see and spend time with them and wouldn’t miss any of their sports games, plays, or concerts. He would always sit on the sidelines giving his grandchildren a thumbs-up sign to encourage them and for confidence. Even if it was in between seasons and nothing was going on, John would drive up from Greenwich to Norwalk just to see his grandchildren practice. John also enjoyed giving his grandchildren tips on how to play their sports better. For example, he would draw diagrams on how NOT to step out of the batter’s box. He also believed that if they struck out in baseball, it was because they were playing too many video games and were losing their eyesight. Kiersten remembers when she was singing a solo in a musical production and “Boppy” (John) would wave to her from the audience. She found it very hard not to laugh in the middle of her song, but would wave back when it was finished. She also remembers going to matinees with Boppy and hearing him snore in the middle of movies.

John’s marriage to Edwina unfortunately ended in divorce. He was remarried on September 19, 1999, to Jomarie Faustine in Las Vegas, NV. John passed away on January 28, 2007, at the age of 79, from complications arising from an unfortunate accident of slipping on ice.

Anthony (Mushy) graduated from Port Chester High School in 1947. He was in the same homeroom with Edwina’s sister Eileen. They graduated together. After high school, Mushy went into the U.S. Navy. When he got out, he went to Rider College in New Jersey. Mushy graduated from Rider College in 1954 with a B.S. in Commerce. After college, Mushy worked for a food broker in Rye, New York called Food Enterprises. From there, he worked in customer service for a while for Saks 5^th Avenue. Eventually, Mushy went into real estate. He was a licensed real estate broker for the states of New York and Connecticut. He worked out an office in Greenwich.

Mushy was getting sick of the cold New England weather and eventually moved down to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he still resides today. There, he worked for the United States Government for the Postal Service for 8 years until his retirement.

Mushy has been very fortunate to have a great friend by his side for decades, Al Billard. Through thick and thin, Al has been there for Mushy and vice versa. Although Al isn’t a part of the Skura or Cesario family by blood, he is a part of the family through years of dedication and support. We all love Al.

Al was born 1/26/1929 and attended St. Luke’s Episcopalian School. His great grandparents immigrated to Canada from England. His grandmother married a gentleman named Glass who left his wife and young son. After nursing a Mr. Billard back to health, they were soon married and Al’s father was adopted by Mr. Billard.

Al served for two years in Korea as a Corporal with six men in his command. They would set up 50 caliber machine guns in no man’s land and be allowed to return to the lines once a day for a hot meal. He suffered frostbite on both feet and one hand. Scars from this remain today. On return home he went to the University of Missouri for two years and then became assistant buyer at Bloomingdales and a manager at Jordan Marsh. Ironically, Al and his family have crossed paths with the Skura/Cesario clan. Al’s father sold real estate and had many transactions going on with John Derick Cesario’s father, Antonio. Also, Barbara Case Skura was the nurse for Al’s father when he was ill. In addition, Al himself had helped John A. in a real estate deal in Key Biscayne, Florida. What a small world it is!

Other Cesario Family Notes

Antonio Cesario and Catherine Capeci Cesario had eight children together – Santo Cesario (died at birth), John Derick Cesario, Frank Cesario, Santo Cesario, Teresa Cesario Barbero, Josephine Cesario O’Neill, Lucy Cesario Sapione, and Sister Carmella Cesario (who was a nun for the Salesian Sisters for 65 years.) Antonio Cesario had come to the United States when he was 9 years old. He worked on the Boston-Westchester Railroad as a water boy. He was a self-made man with no formal education.

Antonio had owned property in Port Chester, Rye, and Greenwich; and streets were named after the family -- “Cesario Place”, “John Street”, and “Lucy Street.”

Catherine Capeci Cesario died from the plague during WWI, around 1919.

Wanda and Jack were infatuated with movie stars. Wanda adopted the name of Blanche for her middle name, and John adopted the name of Derick as his middle name, because of their infatuation. (Derick was after John Drew Barrymore, instead of Drew it was Derick.) Back in 1934, Wanda dyed her hair blonde like the movie star Jean Harlow. She didn’t tell her husband Jack. She walked down South Main Street in Port Chester, heading towards North Main. Not recognizing his own wife, Jack tried to pick Wanda up. She was ticked off, so she hit him with her pocketbook.

Wanda would travel to Washington D. C. to visit Helen in the thirties. At that time it was a ten hour trip compared to 4-5 hours today. First, she had to travel by ferry from NJ over the Delaware River and then a very long trip through the city of Baltimore along Route 1. Mush can remember the women washing the marble steps as they passed through.

The Story of Chet Skura

Chet was the only child of Adam and Katherine to be born in Poland. He was a noted body builder. In the Army, Chet could not only lift a man by the belt with his teeth but also hold a man overhead with one hand. His strength was legendary. Mush and Ron remember him lifting a refrigerator by himself. John witnessed Chet help out with a flat tire but lifting the car instead of using the jack. There is also the story of his visit to a New Jersey bar owned by a famous wrestler, Tony Galento. Chet challenged him to a match and won. Galento fought for the heavyweight championship of the world against all time great heavyweight champion, Joe Louis so this was not an easy fight. For a while, Chet was an amateur prize fighter, but gave that up because his honest nature count not reconcile with the constant “requests” to take a dive. In another incident, a fellow worker for a long time kept calling Chet a Pollack. When asked to stop and the worker not doing so, Chet, being even tempered, let this go on for quite a while, but one day he just had had enough and let him have one on the chin. Later that day the police came by to inform him of the fractured jaw. The police were called but called the transgression understandable. There was no problem.

Before the war, Chet along with his teenage brother, Eddie, worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and helped build the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. He joined the Army just before World War II started and was joined by Eddie during the war. After the war, Chet worked for the Railway Express. He remained a bachelor throughout his life.

Chet loved birds and often went to Stamford Beach to feed the sea gulls. The residents called him the Birdman of Stamford Beach. Patricia Skura, his niece, always thought of him as the birdman. The birds actually followed him home and made quite a mess. In her late teens, Patty would bike to the beach with her best friend Carrie on a regular basis and sit and listen to Chet while he fed the birds. Later on, as age took over, Chet lived in a room in Strawberry Hill, with not even a TV. At this time, Barbara began checking in on Chet more often at his home. He wound up at New Haven Vets Hospital due to complications with his foot for several years. Patty would visit one week and Jimbo the next and Chet was delighted because now he could play his numbers.

When Ron visited him, he had diabetes and lots of problems with his foot. Ron saw an opportunity as his mother was now widowed and living alone. After a fall from a bus, Helen was finally able to convince Chet to come to Hyattsville, Maryland to live in her house with her. Helen made sure that Chet had three meals a day, showered, shaved, and took care of any health issues. The brother/sister relationship between Helen and Chet was good for both of them. Chet died in Helen’s house in 1990 and was buried in Stamford at St. John’ Cemetery. Patty credits the dinner afterwards with bringing the extended family together. It certainly increased the number of visits between Maryland and Connecticut.

The Story of the Helen and Ted Pomykala Family

By Anne Pomykala

To make ends meet, Katherine Skura took in borders during the depression. One of these borders was Thaddeus (Ted) Pomykala, who was eight years older than Helen, but also divorced with two children. A romantic attraction developed, and they eloped on January 25, 1932. Helen was 18 years old at the time and Ted 25. With both families Catholic, there was a great amount of objection to the marriage. Ted's father Andrzej (Andrew) was born Nov. 21, 1860, in Zarszyn, a small town in Galicia 119 miles east of Krakow, Poland, and immigrated to Baltimore in 1880. Andrew returned to Poland in 1885 and was married, yet his first wife died while giving birth. He then married his second wife Marianna Czyz (born Feb. 2, 1869) on Feb., 13 1888 and came back to Baltimore where Marianna's brother Anthony Czyz lived and worked as a tailor. Their son Edmund Pomykala was born Nov. 24, 1897. After making some money as a tailor for the US Naval Academy, they returned to Poland and purchased a store, but were unsuccessful (they were good natured and sold too many goods on credit not to be paid back), and returned for the last time to the United States in 1905, and moved to Newark NJ where Ted was born in March 14, 1906.

After their marriage, Helen and Ted Pomykala moved to the Washington D. C. area where Ted worked at Martin & Boyd Springworks as an ironworker. Ronald Adam was born on March 7, 1934. A year later, a tubal pregnancy ended Helen’s childbearing years. Ron can remember his father coming home every night covered with the soot and grime of the fires. However, at 5:30 every night, his father would appear for dinner showered and shaved and absolutely immaculate. After dinner, Ron would sit on his lap and Ted would read the newspaper.

Helen was a very family orientated person. In 1939, she and Ted visited Wanda to take her two nephews, Mush and John to the World Fair, a trip which Mush never forgot. The baby, Ron was left with Wanda. Mush still remembers the National Geographic subscriptions and fruitcake which arrived every Christmas. Ron was nicknamed “Dunda Baby” by John and Mush Cesario. At the age of 50, John still called Ronnie “Dunda Baby” when he visited for a wedding.

Ted loved playing the numbers and other games of chance. Once when he lost his entire paycheck, Helen laid down the law, chased him with a knife, and it never happened again. The paycheck, at this time in cash, was handed over sealed to Helen, and Ted would receive $5 for gas, cigarettes and perhaps a beer. On the other side, Ted used to make extra money on payday by loaning out money to fellow workers at a high amount of interest. He also would lend out his Chevrolet for a fee. This was OK with Helen who certainly made the decisions in the family. They used to visit Savannah to see Ted’s two boys, Teddy and Raymond who were being raised by Ted’s mother. When the two brothers were in their teens, they came to live with Helen and Ted for a short time. Helen, who was just a few years older than the teenagers, found it very difficult to keep the peace.

In January of 1942, a house was purchased at 3508 Hamilton Street in Hyattsville, MD. In the 1940’s, Helen worked at IBM producing war bonds for the war effort. In the 1950’s, Helen and Ted went into business by buying a gas station at 4^th and Blair Roads in Tacoma Park. The effort was doomed to failure since, according to Helen, Ted gave away too much of the product to anyone with a hard luck story.

Although non-religious herself, Helen brought Ron up in the Catholic Church. Sometimes, Ted would accompany him to the Church; but many times, Ron went alone. Not liking the public schools, Helen sent Ron to St. Aloysius, in downtown Washington D. C. for eighth grade. Ted would drive Ron to New York Avenue, a short distance from Ted’s work and then he would walk to school. He would return home by bus and streetcar. This gave Ron a half scholarship to Gonzaga High School. And from there, a half scholarship to Georgetown University and then to Georgetown Dental School ensued.

Helen was a strict disciplinarian and used the belt on Ron. The threat was enough to keep him very obedient. Prior to the first grade, Helen made Ron spend an hour per day learning to figure and read before he could play. Toys were few during this time. Ron loved playing ball with his friends. He can remember at thirteen, complaining that no one would hire him and trying to figure out how could he make money. Helen solved the problem by helping him purchase Royal Crown sodas at 3 1/3 cents each, delivered to the house. He would then turn around and sell the iced sodas to workers at a local construction site for 10 cents each. This was a very valuable lesson in life that Ron never forgot. The $330 profit became his first investment in the stock market in which he bought Eversharp. He also had a paper route which financed his first bike of which he was immensely proud.

Magic had a great appeal to Ron during his teens and he was thinking that this might be his lifelong career. He patronized the Washington D. C. magic shops and met many famous magicians, including Harry Blackstone. At age 16, Ron became a lifetime member of the Magicians Alliance of the Eastern States. Ron had so much fun with this group. He can remember them taking off his belt, and picking his pocket with out him realizing what was happening. Once, at a magic convention in Philadelphia, he startled the professionals by taking advantage of opportunity. The magician on the elevator had the same card pack in his hand as Ron had in his right jacket pocket. With showmanship, he took the pack and put it into his left pocket. When he produced what appeared to be the same pack from his right pocket, they were astounded by this “kid”. It was the magic of illusion! Helen saved what is now a tattered brown copy of a picture in The Washington Star with Ron in a complete clown suit with clown make up performing for a group of children. But finally Ron decided that magic was on the way out not realizing that there were still great performers to come like Siegfried & Roy. Later in life Anne & Ron were greatly entertained by their performance in Las Vegas.

Ron met his wife Anne at a Thursday night Novena at St. Jerome’s Church, Hyattsville, Md. Six children followed in quick succession, three boys (Joseph, Brian and Daniel) and three girls (Mary, Jeanne, and Cristin). Ted was doted on by the grandchildren. He taught them important skills like catching crabs with chicken necks and the fun of a horizontal tire swing which he constructed for them in the backyard. Helen was respected and held in awe. Every other Saturday, they would take three of the grandchildren on a trip and in the summer, to Ocean City. Helen took her role as grandparent very seriously. Even today, the children talk about the lessons in life that Helen taught them. Helen’s quotes are very popular. She was again a disciplinarian. If misbehaving, she took the initiative and a swat on their rear was a potent reminder.

After graduation from dental school, Ron spent two years in the Navy first in Kingsville, Texas, where Anne graduated from Texas College of Arts & Industries. Ron was next assigned to San Diego on the USS Nobel, a ready ship for Vietnam. The ship was at sea mostly in the Philippines. Ron and the medical officer were avid collectors at each port of call. Medical bay was called “The Museum.” Ron bought a Yamaha baby grand piano which the crew did not appreciate as they were the ones to move it.

After returning home, Ron with his wife Anne bought a home on River Road in Bethesda, MD. The furniture from California was due on Christmas day, 1963, but the truck, delayed, by snow arrived the following morning. Helen and Ted were happy to have Mary Sharon and Jeanne for Christmas day. Anne’s father built a three operatory dental office attached to this house. When Ron purchased Dr. Kennedy’s practice, he took on two new associates, and later bought another practice in Hyattsville. Patients included Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist, Senator and Mrs. Heinz, Senator Danforth, and Vice Presidential contender, Senator Eagleton and their families. At the age of 74, Ron still practices four days a week but at a slower pace. He loves dentistry.

Anne was very active in Girl Scouts. In the seventies, with scouting at its lowest ebb, she had a senior troop with over 60 scouts from throughout the Washington area. Even her boys would go on the trips as they included all the high adventure sports, sailing, canoeing, white water rafting, spelunking, and climbing. At the local high school, the scouts decided to go public (scouting was thought to be very square) and published a picture of six of the scouts in the school newspaper climbing the cliffs at Carderock as a tribute to their leader.

In 1985, life took an entirely new turn as Ron & Anne bought, at auction, a historic mansion in Greenspring Valley. To help with the renovations, they decided to shake hands with Uncle Sam and make a Bed & Breakfast for the tax advantages. But success was in the offing. The Washington Post ran a page and three quarters with five color pictures called Bed, Breakfast and Basil. Needless to say, Anne has been busy ever since. When their youngest daughter Cristin decided to join the operation, weddings became another avenue of success. They also have the oldest continuously operated organic farm in the state and today raise culinary herbs being among the first to be certified organic. With the attention to the organic movement, the money losing farm has now become very much of a profit center. In 2003, Anne & Ron decided to expand and bought the former Baltimore City Life Museums from Baltimore City after a long bid process. The property contains six rowhouses which have been renovated into a 13 room bed & breakfast inn as well as the four story iron fronted Fava building with the 1840s Ballroom and space for a restaurant. Construction in 2008 will include a garage and 9 room addition to the Bed & Breakfast.

Helen and Ted were married 50 years. Ted was very sick with cancer when Ron gave them a vacation to St. Thomas in the Caribbean for their 50^th anniversary present. Helen refused to go, thinking that Ted would die on the trip. Ron cancelled his patients for that week and went instead; Helen still refusing to go. The trip to St. Thomas proved to be a good father and son trip. Helen died 12 years later, also of lung cancer, a testament to their non-stop smoking.

The Story of the Edward & Barbara Skura Family

By Lori Skura Jackowski

Eddie went to Stamford High School in the 1930’s and The Depression came before he could finish, so he never graduated. In those days money was more important than education, he had to go to work. He served in the United States Army, under Omar Bradley, and was involved in one of the bloodiest battles of the war commonly known as the “Battle of The Bulge”. In those days everyone up to the age of 45 was drafted. Eddie was in his early 20’s and Chet in his early 30’s. Eddie shared some stories of the war with sons, only after they prodded him with desperate curiosity, but left out much of the dark details. Eddie received The Purple Heart and The Bronze Star but seemed that he didn’t want to recall much of the war. Vietnam was bad, Iraq is bad, WWII was hell. This was what the Skura men did after The Depression! We siblings and our siblings never went through that…

When he returned from Germany he worked for the Railroad Express Agency in Stamford as a laborer, then a clerk and later as a driver. He met Barbara Case (they called her Casey back then) in 1948. She was in her senior year of High School at Sacred Heart Academy and worked at the Newsstand at the Stamford Railroad Station. Barbara was 18 and Eddie was 30. He was adorned by all the girls and she was envied. He swept her off her feet and may have robbed the cradle a bit. Barbara continued with her education and went to the Nursing school at Greenwich Hospital/University of Connecticut and became a Registered Nurse. They were married May 17, 1952 and it is said that she need not lift a finger and they never had a fight. They moved in with Barbara’s mother, Josephine on Tremont Avenue in Glenbrook after her father Harold had died after being involved in a train wreck, while commuting from NYC.

They had their first son David Adam born on 9/18/1953, then another son James Edward born 7/9/1956, followed by their 1^st daughter Patricia Ellen 1/30/1958. In 1959 they bought a home on Belltown Road and 3 months later gave birth to another girl Catherine Ann on 8/29/1959. It was 10 years later that they had their 5^th child, another girl, Laura Elizabeth, born 10/29/1969. When Eddie came out to waiting room he stated “It’s another girl, and she is the most beautiful of them all”. The four older children attended St. Bridget’s Parochial School for their lower & middle years and Eddie was like Helen, a strict disciplinarian, who lived by the belt. When the older boys, David & Jimbo along with the tomboy Patty got into trouble (often tattled on by their younger sister Cathy) they always made Patty go 1^st, so she would cry enough to make their punishments lighter. They took summer vacations at Lake Champlaine, VT, with their longtime family friends the Morrell’s, who had home on the New York side of the lake. It was the 1^st trip with the new baby, Lori in July of 1970 that put an end to those summer memories. Eddie suffered a fatal heart attack at age 51 and died on July 20^th leaving his widow Barbara with a 16 year old, 14 year old, 12 year old and 10 year old as well as a 9 month old infant.

Barbara then had to go to work full-time and run a household with 5 children. She was never before responsible for the household in such capacity, especially financially. She did the best she possibly could and raised all 5 children with an abundance of love, kindness and understanding. Her mother Josephine lived with them which helped enable Barbara to work nights at the hospital and then later in private homes. Barbara continued to encourage the children to exercise their inherent passion with wildlife. Over the years she and Eddie had allowed the children to bring home anything they caught from the nearby woods and swamp, from turtles to snakes, and even hatched ducklings and other birds. When the youngest, Lori was in 1^st grade, her brother David brought the family’s pet raccoons to school for “show & tell”. All things caught were always returned to the wild at the appropriate time, of course. Barbara later was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 1990 and after a 13 month battle died at age 60.

David Adam Skura loved God, his family and his children. He adored his mother and often talked sadly about the death of his father. He was a master fisherman, knew every tree in the forest, and had a natural knowing about animals. He was very artistic and also very outgoing. I don't think he ever met a stranger. David was fun and funny to be around. He was extremely generous and a very hard worker. David married Sally Lombard and they had a son, Joshua James on January 9, 1977. They divorced. David later married Sandra LeClair, Nov 9, 1979. They had three children together. Stephen Paul , Dec.17, 1979, and twins, Rachel Elisabeth and Rebecca Ann, June 9, 1982. David died August 6, 1983, he was enrolled in a drug treatment program at the time and was trying very hard to overcome his addiction.

Cathy worked for an Insurance company after High School and then met Carl “Lou” Buccino, a local pub owner and carpenter by trade who she later married on May 29, 1982 at an extravaganza of a wedding. They gave birth to twin baby boys, Michael Anthony & Matthew Edward on 6/17/1986. Both boys took their grandfather’s names for their middle names. Cathy then became a stay at home Mom. Lori had a separate childhood from her siblings, being raised primarily by Barbara alone. She only had the memories of others to imagine her father, Eddie. Lori graduated from Stamford Catholic High School in 1987 and then held various clerical positions over those next years. It was in 1990 that Barbara was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and Lori spent the next 13 months caring for her Mother and Grandmother Josephine at home (until Josephine was moved to St. Camilus Nursing Home in Stamford). In 1993, Lori then met Vinny DeMaio, a New Canaan Police Officer through an arranged date, the two married 9/24/1994. They were married for 7 years during which time Lori received an Associates Degree at NCC, and pursued a career as a Registered Nurse like her Mother, Barbara. Lori began working at Stamford Hospital as a bedside nurse in 1998 and the two divorced in 2001. Lori then met Edward Jackowski, a fitness author from New York in November, 2002 via a blind date arranged by mutual associates. Edward and Lori eloped in Asheville, NC in May 2005 at the home of his son, Max whom they share joint custody of with Max’s mother, Misty. They celebrated the birth of their son James Edward (named after his uncle Jimbo) April 16, 2007. The family resides in Norwalk, CT.

Patricia Skura Woellner’s Notes on Her Father

My father was the love of my life, and he truly made me feel that away. If it were up to him he would have had five girls. Being the oldest girl, I was expected to be more responsible when it came to helping around the house. I’ll never forget when my father bought me my first sewing machine. As soon as it came, Laura Elizabeth Skura also was born. When my father saw her he said, “It’s a girl!!! And she is so beautiful!” And now of course being the oldest girl, my new job was to take care of the baby at night while my mother worked and my father had to rest for work the next day.

When my father died in July of 1970, I have to say that the vacations were most missed! If it was the Cape in Massachusetts, or on the lake in Vermont, or Port Henry, New York with the Morrell’s, it did not matter.

When I couldn’t sleep at night, I would go to the top of the stairs near the opening to the living room. My father would take notice and ask if I wanted to join him. I always said yes and usually would wind up watching Lawrence Welk, Mitch Miller, or The Honeymooners. What my father didn’t know was that later on if I still couldn’t sleep, I would sneak into bed with him and fall asleep against his warm body which made me feel safe.

I also remember playing waitress with Cathy when Wanda would visit on weekends in the sixties and maybe getting a tip or two if the ashtrays were clean. She would come over every week or so for a few beers, in special glasses of course, and fancy snacks such as shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, and nuts. My other memories are not as nice. My father would take us every week after Mass to visit Wanda at home in her bedroom. We would line up outside her door and go in one at a time and visit for a few moments.