My Dad's family

My Dad's family

My Great Aunt Anna Lucascik and her mother---Anna Butrynowa Lucascik (born around 1884 in Pinsk Minsk, Poland---or Vilnius ?)  When I visited Aunt Anna after my Grandma Mary's funeral, she told me some interesting stories about her Mom coming to America.  It was so long ago that I don't swear all my memories of that conversation are true.  But I recall her saying her Mom's family were poor peasants and the men were forced into the soviet army, where they were killed.  I also remember her saying her Mom was actually too young to come to the USA on her own, so she traveled on her dead sister's birth certificate.  When she got to the USA, she was sponsored as a housekeeper.  Sometime during that time, she answered a door and was attacked and hit over the head with a hammer---but survived.  Whether or not this is all true, I don't really know, but that's what I remember being told. 

Grandpa Joseph W Gagznos Jr (B. 4/20/1897 in California; D. 1/23/1952 in New York)  

Again, I wish I had asked my Dad more questions about his father.  What I do remember him telling me is that his Grandpa Gagznos came to the USA and ran a bar in California.  He didn't know how he got to the West coast or if that's where his original port of entry was, but there are census records that back him being there.  At some point, he made it to the East coast where Joseph met Mary Dorothy Lucascik (Lukascik---the proper spelling is questionable).  I don't remember there being much said about military service for Joseph.  I'm not even sure which branch this uniform is for or what he did.

my Grandma Mary Dorothy (Lucascik Gagznos---b:4/2/1912 in New York; d: 10/11/1994 in Dallas, Oregon) and grandpa Joseph Gagznos (Dad's parents) 

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Joseph again

Their wedding photo.  Would love to know more about that dress!  I know she did sew.  She also did a lot of knitting and crocheting.  Some of which I still have.  Married 2/22/1930 in Hudson, New Jersey

I have no idea who the other 2 people are in my grandparents wedding photo.

Dad in 1936 (5 years old)

dad about 8

Dad

Dad and his parents at their bungalow in Millington, New Jersey

Dad with his parents.  Wonder if they really played the guitars?

Dad with his parent and friends.

Dad with his parents  and ? on the Jersey shore

Mary, Joseph and Ed Gagznos on the jersey shore (my grandparents and dad)

Mary and DAd and I'm guessing the other lady is my Great Aunt Anna with her father, Michael Lucascik---who was born in Poland around 1878)

Dad was the first of two children born to Joseph and Mary Gagznos in Bayonne, New Jersey. He was raised in Millington, New Jersey, and attended Millington Elementary, Sterling Junior High, and Bernard’s High School. During his senior year the family moved to Plainfield, New Jersey.

I love that they took so many family portraits back in an age where photography wasn't very good or convenient.  Someone took a lot of pictures of them with a medium format camera and I was able to borrow those negatives from my Aunt in her later years and get good quality prints from them. 

Dad was exceptionally intelligent.  So it was funny hearing him talk about how bad he was at playing the trumpet. 

I  believe this is Grandma's Mom and Dad---Anna Butrynowa Butryn (b: 1/29 in Lithuania Russia; d: 11/19/1948 in New Jersey) and Michael Lucascik (b: 11/1/1879 in Poland; d: 9/9/1951 in New Jersey) (They were married in Brooklyn, Kings, New York) .

Cool old car. 

Grandma Mary and her sister Anna---before their relationship changed and they didn't have anything to do with each other anymore---never heard what happened.

Anna Lucascik, daughter Anna Lucascik-Gadzialla , and Dad.

Dad with his parents mary and Joseph Gagznos

Great Aunt Anna Lucascik Gadziala (When Anna Lucascik was born about 1920, her father, Michael, was 42, and her mother, Anna, was 36. ) and Steve Gadziala.

Dad with his Mom and Grandma

Another out of order photo, but another nice group photo of Dad and his parents and Lucascik women.

Another group photo---the Gagznos family, Gadziala family, and Lucascik parents.

Dad's brother, JOe, with his Dad, uncle Steve, cousin Butch, and grandpa Michael. 

I'm not sure if this is Dad's grandpa Joseph William Gagznos Sr. (b: abt 1859 in Lithuania Russia; d: 4/9/ New Jersey) or grandpa Lucascik, with Dad's father.

Joseph Gagznos and Dad's little brother, my Uncle Joe (12 years Dad's junior). 

Joseph Gagznos---shortly before he committed suicide.  I know he had a hard time providing for the family and was working at some sort of hospital--VA or mental?  I guess all the pressure got to him.  Dad had just gone into the military and Uncle Joe found him hanging in the basement. 

Back to happier times---Dad with his Grandma who's holding his little brother and cousin.

Dad and the chickens.  Dad wouldn't eat chicken in his later years---said they were disgusting animals that he had to take care of when he was young.

Dad and his little brother.

The river behind Dad's bungalow house.  He loved fishing and boating in that river.

Dad about 13 and Joe about 1.

Dad in his high school days.

 During Dad's senior year the family moved to Plainfield, New Jersey.

One weekend shortly after he graduated, he said he was home sleeping in and both parents were gone when a recruiter came to the door.  He was too young to enlist on his own (17), and knew his parents wouldn't co-sign for him to enlist, so he signed it.  Later his parents came home and co-signed.  He always wondered if they arranged it.

Hard to believe this scrawny guy was going off to the military.  And a very fulfilling career in the AirForce.

Ed enlisted in the United States Air Force on 18 July 1949 after graduating from high school. He received technical training in heavy ground radio equipment and navigational aids at Scott AFB in Illinois. He served as a radio maintenance technician and cryptographic custodian at Randolph AFB, San Antonio, Texas during the Korean War. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant before receiving a commission in 1953. He was instrumental in the electronic equipment installation, preoperational, and initial operational phases of the radar squadron at Keno, Oregon; the Air Defense Direction Center at Adair Air Force Station near Corvallis, Oregon; and the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex near Colorado Springs, Colorado. During a second tour at Adair Air Force Station he supervised the assumption of computer maintenance by Air Force technicians. International Business Machines technicians had installed and maintained the AN/FSQ-7 Semi Automatic Ground Environment computer system until that time. He served overseas in England as Commander of an electronic and navigational aids installation and maintenance squadron, as Communications and Electronics Officer in a radar squadron in British Columbia, Canada, and as an Air Defense Advisor in the Military Training Mission at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

While at Scott AFB, Illinois, he met his future wife in 1950. He married Nora Louise Rich in West Frankfort, Illinois on 23 June 1951. They had three children. Nora preceded Edward in death on 15 November 2000 in Dallas. Nora and the three children accompanied him in all assignments except his isolated assignments in Canada and Saudi Arabia.

After retiring from the USAF he worked for McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis as their Communications and Computer Security Administrator.

He returned to Dallas, Oregon in February 1976. He continued his education at Oregon College of Education and Western Oregon State College where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies.

He was an avid bowler, bowling in several leagues and participating in local and national tournaments. He enjoyed fishing, hiking, traveling, and his hot tub. He was an avid reader of military history and biography, with some historical novels and adventure thrown in for diversion.

Ed was a member of the American Legion, having served as the Adjutant of the Dallas Post for seven years. He was also a long time member of the Retired Officers Association and the National Geographic Society. He served on the Dallas Cemetery Board and volunteered for Dallas Retirement Village for many years. He was a member of the Calvary Chapel of Dallas.

a little more about Michael Lukascik

Back in the day---formal photos were taken of the dead.  This is Micheal Lucascik. 

Michael Lucascik

1879–1951

Birth 1 NOV 1879 • Soviet Union / Poland

Death SEPTEMBER 1951

This is Anna Butrynova Lucascik

I didn't spend much time with any of this family.  With Dad in the military, we didn't see much of any of my relatives.  But I do have fond memories of short visits in New Jersey.  Most notably at my Great Aunt Anna's house where my 1st cousins once removed got my brother and me smitten with plastic dinosaurs.  We amassed quite a collection of them and played with them a lot throughout our young lives.
I used to write to my Grandma Mary.  For some reason, she liked me, not so much my sister.  So I kept in contact with her even after I married.  She came to my wedding---even sort of reconciled with her sister there!  When she got too old to live alone, my Uncle helped her move to Oregon where my Dad got her into a senior home and checked on her every day.  He was quite clever.  Neighbors had complained that Grandma would get up in the middle of the night and was noisy.  So Dad got a recorder that turned on with noise so he could hear when she was getting up.  Then rigged a light to come on and off at a certain time and told her if the light was off, stay in bed.  She had really bad vision that couldn't be corrected, but noone bothered to find out what it was.  I lost center vision in my right eye and wonder if it is hereditary!