KIJOWSKI, BENJAMIN J. (Sept. 22, 1921 -- April 12, 2010)Carpenter. North Tonawanda, a city of 33,262 souls four miles from Niagara Falls, New York, first took notice of its Polish people in 1903 when Archbishop James Quigley of Buffalo sent the Rev. Peter Letocha there to organize Our Lady of Czestochowa parish. Secondly, in 1905, when he came from Poland, Szymon Kijowski joined the Polish parish and eventually, when he was 24 years old and she 19 years old, married Paulina Ziembicki, with whom he had nine children.
Benjamin was one of seven sons. When they grew up and went to work, each one had a different job. The father was a drill operator in a chain factory. Frank, the oldest son, was a crane operator. Benjamin, or Benny J., the seventh oldest child, took up carpentry, and was still a carpenter when he retired from Exolon Esk-Washington Mills in a 1983. Then he created stained glass windows.
He served in the Signal Corps of the U. S. Army from 1942 to 1945 and took part in the liberation of the Philippines. Unfortunately, little is known of his own efforts in the greatest war in the nation's history. After the war, he was active in Amvets Post 26, and, without waiting someone to prod his memory, like a newspaper reporter or a grandson, exchanged his experiences with other war veterans. His experiences are no longer familiar.
His son, Garry W. Kijowski, who served in Vietnam, was also a member of Amvets Post 26. In 1944, five years before Garry was born, Father Michael C. Wacek, pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa parish in North Tonawanda, reported that 655 parishioners were in military service and seven were killed in action prior to the time of the survey. No figures were available for Polish National Catholic and other parishes. In the state of New York alone, there were 70,073 persons, with 232 caualties, from 79 Polish parishes. Add to these numbers the other Polish parishes in the country and one finds enough evidence to call them part of the greatest generation in the United States.
Benjamin Kijowski was also part of a radical change closer to home. In his father's time the Buffalo archdiocese had 273 parishes and missions with an overall Catholic population of 692,215 souls. Unlike his father, Benjamin Kijowski and his wife, Sophie (nee Krajkowski) of Niagara Falls, whom he married in 1948, established close ties to St. Joseph's Catholic Church and raised three children in North Tonawanda. The father and son, Benjamin and Garry Kijowski, respectively, expected that they and their families would worship at St. Joseph's church for generations.
Then, in the augths, when priests were no longer available to staff all the parishes, Father Louis S. Dolinic, who was at St. Joseph's two years, said: "we are the church, no matter where we are, and no matter what building we worship in," and the archbishop of Buffalo closed St. Joseph's Church. The three congregations in North Tonawanda were now two. Father Dolinic was named pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The Kijowski families followed him. It was he who conducted the funeral ceremonies for Garry Kijowski, who died January 11. 2009, and his father, Benny J., both of whom were buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
As the family is now scattered -- Paul Kijowski and his family live in Rome, Georgia, and Gloria Kijowski, Cambria, New York, to cite two of the survivors -- just the genealogy of the family remains.
Editor's note: The author, who is himself a veteran of World War 2, would appreciate pictures of Benjamin and Garry Kijowski in their military uniforms. Please scan them or mail to 10212 S. W. 59th Street, Cooper City, Florida 33328-6531.
Author: Edward Pinkowski - e-mail: [email protected] - (2011)