Dmyszewicz, Raymond J.
(July 19, 1924 - Nov. 3, 2001)
Businessman and World War II veteranOne imagines that the family name would have come to an end with the death of Anthony Dmyszewicz, because he fathered one daughter after another and his wife's child-bearing years were almost down to zero. Then, in West Galway, New York, Felicia Dmyszewicz had a son on July 19, 1924, and named him Raymond. It meant that Raymond Dmyszewicz and his father, who was born in Poland on March 13, 1877, were the only persons of the same name in the United States. The children grew up on a farm in the town of Galway, where Raymond graduated from high school in 1941, and then scattered. His mother changed her first name to Fannie, and his sisters changed their last name by marriage to Wall, Smith, and Slezak.
During the Second World War, Dmyszewicz rose to staff sergeant in the Marine Corps and fought on one island after another in the Pacific and ended up in the battle of Iwo Jima, 650 miles south of Tokyo, Feb. 19 - March 26, 1945, when the Americans killed most of the Japanese troops they faced. The battle was immortalized in the United States by the photograph of a flag raising on Mount Suribaci.
After the war, he went to work in the American Locomotive Works in Schenectady, New York, and married Rosemary Ross, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Whatever number of persons of the same name follow in years to come, it will be traceable to William L. and Daniel E. Dmyszewicz, who were born and raised in Amsterdam, New York, until 1971. His first wife died in 1969. No Dmyszewicz has evidently come from Poland to live since 1903.
Exactly what Raymond Dmyszewicz did for a living after the American Locomotive Co. closed its locomotive works is not clear. At one time or other he sold snowmobiles, ran a trailer court and owned a string of gasoline filling stations and repair garages in Amsterdam and Hagaman. Somewhere along the line he and his sons learned to install dry wall and became self-employed contractors. The last business he owned with his sons was D & D Drywall, Inc., in Broadalbin, the first village on New York Route 30 north of Amsterdam.
The family enjoyed bowling, fishing, camping, and riding a motorcycle. He married a widow of his age, Bernice Benham, who had two children by her first husband, and both died in Broadalbin. She died on May 29, 1989, and he on Nov. 3, 2001. Services for each were held at St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church in Hagaman, Montgomery County, New York, and in his case burial with military honors in the parish cemetery. He was member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post 337 in Broadalbin.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)