Aponick, Judge John J.
(May 27, 1899 - February 16, 1961)
In 1937, John Joseph Aponick made history when he was elected to serve a ten-year term and Governor George H. Earle of Pennsylvania appointed him to fill a vacancy in Luzerne County Common Pleas Court. He became the first Pole to break the barrier during an era when the two major political parties would not support Polish candidates for judgeships. Since then the voters of Luzerne County have elected one Polish candidate after another for county offices. Judge Aponick is now far less familiar to the people of Pennsyvania than the more recent judges, but he is still a record breaker.Aponick was born in Nanticoke, predominately a small village of coal miners along the Susquehanna River just below Wilkes Barre, to Joseph and Stanislawa (Ziolkowski) Aponick, who came from Poland in the early 1890s. In his youth he worked in meat stores and in a coal breaker. After graduation from high school in 1917, he enrolled in Bucknell University and then, when the United States entered the war, the Field Artillery Training School. At the end of his training in Louisville, Ky., he received a commission and was one of the youngest second lieutenants in the U. S. Army at that time.
After the war was over, he studied economics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1923, and worked one year with the accounting firm of Lybrand, Ross, and Montgomery. Then he studied law at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1927. He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne County in the same year and hung out his shingle in Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre. But the University of Pennsylvania engaged him to hold classes in law at Harrisburg, Reading, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton. When Governor George H. Earle appointed him to the Common Pleas Court of Luzerne County, he returned to his birthplace with his wife, Sophie Kruszewski, whom he married in Swoyersville on November 22, 1932, and their child, and remained on the bench the rest of his life. He was re-elected in 1947 and 1957. Upon the resignation of the President Judge on March 1, 1958, Judge Aponick became President Judge.
In addition, he was a member of the Polish National Alliance since 1917 and active in other Polish organizations for many years. For the first time in 1940, he held the first banquet in Wilkes-Barre in memory of General Pulaski. He was one of the founders of the Pulaski Memorial Committee in the early 1950s.
He suffered a stroke while presiding at a jury trial in his courtroom on February 15 and died the following day in Mercy Hospital. The flag was lowered to half mast at the courthouse. The funeral was held with Requiem Mass at Holy Trinity Church, Nanticoke, and burial in the parish cemetery.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2008)
Aponick, John J. (Aponik)Attorney-at-law, Professor. Born in Nanticoke, Pa., on May 27, 1899, the son of Joseph Aponik and Stella Ziolkowski. Graduated Wharton School of Finance and Business. Employed as an accountant for one year by Lybrand, Ross Bros. and Montgomery. Educated at Bucknell University and the University of Pennsylvania, attaining degrees of Bachelor of Science in Economics and Bachelor of Law, attaining Master of Science degree. Professor of law in Extension Division of University of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Reading, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Since 1927 a member of the Bar of Luzerne County and admitted to practice in the Pennsylvania Supreme and Superior Courts. Director of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Wilkes Barre, Pa. Attended Field Artillery Central Officers Training School, was graduated at Louisville, Ky. and served as Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery 1918-1919. Elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the first judge of Polish descent in Luzerne County, for the term beginning January 3, 1938, from eleventh judicial district in Pennsylvania; term ends on first Monday of January, 1948. Member of American Legion, American Bar Association, Knights of Columbus, and Polish National Alliance since December 3, 1917, group 147. Married to the former Zoe W. Kruszefski (Sophie Kruszewski). Residence: 64 W. Church St., Nanticoke, Pa.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943