RELATIONSHIP: Grandfather
Stephen GRACZYK 🇺🇸 –> Karen GRACZYK 🇺🇸 –> Craig KANALLEY 🇺🇸
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FATHER: Stephen GRACZYK
MOTHER: Frances IGLINSKA
BORN: 27 May 1937 Buffalo, Erie, NY, USA1
BAPTIZED: 20 Jun 1937 Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral, Buffalo, Erie, NY, USA1
GODPARENTS: Walenty GRACZYK (grandfather) and Marianna KOSCIELNIAK (great-grandmother)
RELIGION: Catholic
OCCUPATIONS: Mathematician, Teacher, Computer Specialist
MARRIED: 30 May 1959 Blessed Trinity RC Church, Buffalo, Erie, NY, USA2
WIFE: Lois GRUNDTISCH, daughter of Howard GRUNDTISCH & Frances BEASER
PHOTOS:
INTERESTING NOTES: Stephen grew up in a devoutly religious family that belonged to the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC). His parents, grandparents, and even aunts & uncles were extremely involved in the church, so he was raised to be very involved in the church as well. He served as an altar server & went to youth camps in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the PNCC was headquartered.
As the first son of a PNCC family, he felt pressure to become a priest himself. He gave it some thought but it was not something he wanted to do with his life. As he grew older, theology & religion always fascinated him as topics, and he said he read the Bible in its entirety several times.
Another staple of his childhood was following sports. He enjoyed listening to New York Yankees games on the radio, and he took meticulous notes based on the games & recorded box scores. He also very much enjoyed hockey, and he played goaltender in college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
He was a standout student, routinely ranked at the top of his classes, and through his studies, he became a mathematician & math teacher. He taught for some time, worked on some projects for NASA & the U.S. government that he could not discuss, and he had a part in developing one of the first ever robotic arms. He was forced to turn down jobs with NASA in California & Florida due to personal/family reasons at the time, but he ended up working for many years with IBM in Owego, NY, which relocated the family to the Binghamton area for several years. His early work with computers & proficiency in math set him up for decades of work with computers, including building his own with spare parts in his free time & he later worked as a computer specialist with Sony.
He had a constant passion for learning new things. He made frequent trips to the library and would take out several books at a time, and if he wasn’t reading a book, he may have been watching a documentary. His many interests included history, religion/theology as mentioned, and outer space & the universe. He enjoyed sharing knowledge with his children & grandchildren.
After retiring from full-time work, he worked various jobs part-time and he became an umpire, working both baseball & softball games in Western New York.
DIED: 25 Dec 2013 Tonawanda, Erie, NY, USA, age 76 years old3
BURIED: 31 Dec 2013 Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Williamsville, Erie, NY, USA3
SOURCES
- United States, New York, Erie, Buffalo – Official Birth Certificate
- United States, New York, Erie, Buffalo Roman Catholic Church Records, Blessed Trinity RC Church
- Find A Grave, Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Williamsville, Erie, NY, USA – Stephen Graczyk Memorial Page
ANCESTORS [back to top]
PARENTS:
Stephen GRACZYK *1908 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸 +1980 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Frances Mary IGLINSKA *1913 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸 +1987 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
GRANDPARENTS:
Walenty GRACZYK *1865 Wszedzien POL 🇵🇱 +1947 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Anna PIASECKA *1870 Strzelce POL 🇵🇱 +1931 Lancaster NY 🇺🇸
Stanislaw IGLINSKI *1885 Skorzencin POL 🇵🇱 +1943 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Stella KOSCIELNIAK *1890 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸 +1964 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
GREAT-GRANDPARENTS:
Jozef GRACZYK *1835 Wszedzien POL 🇵🇱
Marianna MACIEJEWSKA *c1846 POL 🇵🇱 +1869 Wszedzien POL 🇵🇱
Michal PIASECKI *1843 Chalupska POL 🇵🇱 +1879 Strzelce POL 🇵🇱
Katarzyna ANDRZEJEWSKA *1840 Zabno POL 🇵🇱 +1923 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Ludwik IGLINSKI *1859 Szemborowo POL 🇵🇱 +c1902 🇺🇸
Katarzyna GACA *1863 Ostrowo Koscielne POL 🇵🇱 +1928 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Jan KOSCIELNIAK *1851 Kromolice POL 🇵🇱 +1929 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
Marianna BORUCKA *1865 Laszczyniec POL 🇵🇱 +1948 Buffalo NY 🇺🇸
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POSTS MENTIONING THIS ANCESTOR:
- Coming soon
Craig Kanalley 