Owsiany, Leonard
(Apr. 1, 1923 - Nov. 27, 1997)Unlike many Polish families, Leonard Owsiany, who was born, raised, and educated in Chester, Pennsylvania, did not follow in the footsteps of his father, who worked in the Baldwin locomotive works at Eddystone, between Chester and Philadelphia. Neither did his brothers. When he was 22 years old, Wladyslaw Owsiany, who was born May 25, 1885, in Galicia, then in Austria but now in Poland, married Agnes Belcyk, with whom he had six sons and three daughters in the city 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia. For example, in line of birth, John Owsiany worked in a shipyard, Emil Owsiany in a textile mill, and Edmond Owsiany in a machine shop. After serving in England and Germany with the U.S. Army Air Corps during the Second World War, Leonard Owsiany went to work in the Scott Paper Company, the world's leading manufacturer of toilet tissue, paper towels and paper napkins.
Despite the birth of St. Hedwig's parish in 1902, the Polish population of Chester grew slowly. It had forty Polish families in 1902. Twenty years later, the city of 58,372 had 1,688 persons from Poland and roughly the same number of Russian Jews. Walter, to which Wladyslaw changed his first name, and Agnes Owsiany died in the 1940s. It was in 1952 that the Council of United Polish Societies of Chester showed a little muscle and held the first parade in their city in memory of General Casimir Pulaski, and named a school after the Polish hero of the American Revolution.
On February 12, 1948, shortly after he met Sarah Ann DieVart at a Halloween party, Leonard Owsiany walked with her down the aisle of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church. They remained the rest of their married life in Chester, first in McCaffrey Village and then 2901 West 7th Street, where they raised ten children, including five sons and five daughters. As his daughter, Theresa Marie (McHugh), wrote, "One of his greatest pleasures in life was music. He loved to sing and listen to Frank Sinatra. His children grew up listening to Frank, the big bands and, of course, polka music."
Exactly when Scott built the paper plant in Chester is uncertain. It started in 1867 when Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott sold paper from a push cart on the streets of Philadelphia. It was the first company to produce toilet paper on a roll, paper towels in 1907, and paper napkins in the 1930s. In 1994, ten years after Owsiany retired, Al Dunlap took the helm of Scott Paper Company and gutted its work force around the world. The following year "Chain-saw" Dunlap, as he was called in Chester, merged the company with Kimberly-Clark. Thereafter the men and women who worked for the old paper company got together for coffee, donuts, and chit-chat, first at a popular luncheonette and then, when the crowd got bigger, they hired an American Legion hall for their reunions. Over the years, Leonard Owsiany had plenty of memories of the paper mill.
Without a doubt the saddest day in his life was April 10, 1993, when his son, Lt. Cmdr. Michael D. Owsiany, died in Arizona as a result of an automobile accident. He was 36 years old and worked at one place or other from 1974, when he graduated from a high school in Chester, to 1992 when he graduated from the nursing program at the University of Florida. He was a supervisor, foreman, high school teacher, and business manager. In between, he earned diplomas from universities in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida, and from 1981 to 1987, he served on three different ships of the U.S. Navy. His last assignment was Fort Defiance Hospital in Arizona, where he was a registered nurse. After Mass of Christian Burial in Chester, he was laid to rest in Immaculate Heart Cemetery, Linwood, Pennsylvania. His father, who died Nov. 27, 1997, was laid at his side.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)