HELEN MORANIEC LASECKI

Helen Josephine Moraniec (Gramma, or Babcia)was born 17 September 1896 in Detroit Michigan to Jozefa Garbaczyk and Jozef Moraniec. She was baptized Helena on the 20th of September in St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church by Rev. R.J. Byzewski. The godparents were Jacub Blycharski and Francis Kobak. Her first name came from  grandmother Helena Skora, her grandmother, her second from her mother, Josephine.

On the 1900 US census, the family is living at 17 Otis Street, on Detroit’s East Side. Helen is listed as Lena.

Aunt Gladys reports: Helen was the third oldest of six siblings (Mary, Jack, Helen, Lucille, Sophie, Alec, and Hedy) and six more half siblings (Mary, Josephine, Michael, Stanley, Joseph, and Adeline).

When she was only eight  (ed.note: eleven) years old, her mother died of pneumonia and (editor’s note: two months later,) her father married the maid, Theresa Biedron. This was Gramma’s death bed wish: that Theresa would “look after the children.” Today we know that, in fact, Theresa was a close relative, first or second cousin, if not a half-sibling of Helen’s mother, Jozefa.

The Moraniec girls, from both mothers, loved having a good time.  There are quite a few photos of the girls in bathing suits, and dressed up.

Helen, like her husband Walter, attended school until the fifth grade, according to the 1940 census.

In 1910, Helen is 13 years old, her father has remarried and from what we’ve heard, Helen did not get along very well with her step-mother.  The home must have been wild with nine children and three immigrant boarders. Helen was not working…or at least it was not reported on the census.

According to Gladys, Helen and her sis Sophie used to ride the carts from Big Joe’s creamery and deliver milk  to the nuns.(ed. note, I remember mom talking about the convent across the street). While she was single, Helen, like so many other female Polish immigrants, worked in the cigar factory, rolling cigars or as a stripper. When researching, I was surprised to learn that tobacco was grown in the area of Poland the family was from, so it’s not so surprising that they’d end up working in a tobacco factory.

Helen was known as the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. As you can see from her photo, she was a beauty.

Helen married Walter Lasecki on 9 September 1919 in the Sweetest Heart of Mary Roman Catholic church, the parish the Laseckis attended. Witnesses were her sis, Sophie and her husband, Frank Przybilski, who were not just relations, they were close friends of the couple.

By the 1920 census, Helen and Walter are renting a home (looks like a duplex that they share with the Strajewski family) at 729 St. Auburn St. in Detroit.

In 1930 the family owned a bungalow with an upstairs worth $7000 at 4690 Bewick St. in Detroit. Walter’s brother Alec lived with them because he would come in to work in the city while his wife, Angeline held down the farm with their two boys, Jimmie and Robert.On weekends, he’d return to work the farm. The Lasecki men were hard workers!

Helen became “Mom” with the birth of two daughters, Gladys and Priscilla. The census does not list their black scotch terrier, Beauty. Gladys reports that Helen’s sis, Sophie and her husband, Frank also lived with them on Bewick St.

Gladys remembers her Mom as a great homemaker. “She cooked everyday and baked every Sunday….Every morning before school we’d have a hot bowl of oatmeal with a big blob of butter in it. When I was in nursing training, my mom would iron my nursing uniform.”

The Lasecki family spent summers vacations on Helen’s brother, Alec’s farm with Angeline and their two boys, Jimmie and Bobby.

By the 1940 census Alec, who had attended school until the ninth grade, was still living there, at least part-time, and he was a Band Saw Operator in an automobile plant. The Laseckis remained on Bewick Street until Pris graduated high school. At this point, she’s in her third year of high school.

After Pris graduated, Walter retired and fulfilled his dream of owning a farm. He and Helen moved to North Branch MI where he worked exceedingly hard to restore a farm. His brother Alec, experienced now at farm work, helped out often. As their daughters’ families grew, they often visited with the grandchildren.

Helen became “Gramma” with the birth of her first grandbaby, Michael Klauke in 1949.

When her daughter Priscilla returned to the workforce, and the last grandbaby, Tommy was born, Helen moved into a carriage house apartment in Locust to help out. I remember at 11 years old, having my first interior painting lessons from Dad as we redecorated the apartment before she moved in. Helen loved soap operas that had begun being aired on TV. She never missed “General Hospital,” and “As the World Turns.”

She would watch Tommy and prep dinner until Carolyn, the eldest available, now in 6th grade, arrived home from school and took over making dinner and babysitting. Gramma helped us out a lot during those lean years. Her guwumpkis, kielbasa, and stuffed beef birds, are legendary. Christmas morning she would bake her sweet Butter Horns with fruit and glazing in a babka pan. They’d place a lit taper candle in the middle and sing “Happy Birthday Bay Jesus”.

Every Easter she bought the grandchildren HUGE chocolate rabbits that would be lined up on the mantel, each with one child’s name on it. The kids savored these during Easter week, nibbling bits off each day.

Joe Kieber remembers how he loved Gramma Helen’s Brown Cows. As a young boy, he would try to fanagle a reason to go up to her apartment, knowing she would make him a coke float with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

When the Kiebers lived in Rumson, granddaughter Marie says that when Gramma visited and walked  her to Sea Bright, they would buy sugary gumdrops, but not the spicy ones!

When Walter died in 1960, Helen at 64 years of age, sold the farm and moved to New Jersey to live with her daughter Priscilla’s family. Robert Kieber had lost his job and Priscilla returned to work. They desperately needed childcare for the youngest, Thomas Vincent aka “Bones.”

Helen had a cozy apartment in the carriage house at the top of driveway from Bob and Pris’ big house. Granddaughter Carolyn had her first house painting lesson in her living room, when her father taught her to paint before Gramma moved in.

In Locust, shortly after Helen had come to live there,  Marie would be the first grandchild to come home from school, since she was in high school at the time, and Gramma would make her a cup of tea and offer her a cookie in her apartment. Gramma watched Bones during the day on school days and she helped prep dinner for the big family. Bones talked about how Gramma would offer him a second lunch. She was a very indulgent Gramma to the youngest whom she loved dearly. She was not very happy though, since her beloved Walter had died ,and often spoke of wanting to go to heaven and be with him.

At 80 years old, Helen had a stroke. Granddaughter, Susan, said that she thought Gramma had lymphoma.  She died 6^th Dec 1976 in her carriage house apartment in Locust with her daughters and several grandchildren in attendance. She is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Red Bank NJ (off rt.35).