Helena Komornicki

Her earthly limitations no longer hold her down, as she is ushered into the arms of Jesus. Mom was no stranger to Jesus, she prayed daily and spoke of His great love and forgiveness. Now she freely runs the glorious garden of heaven, reunited with so many loved ones, that she so often talked about with so much love and respect. Mom...We love you beyond words, forever and always, OR as you always said to us "I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH" Her earthly life was difficult, but she did her best to function in those heartbreaking situations. She so often spoke and cried about her forced labor in Germany during World War-2. When her country Poland was invaded, Mom was a young Polish Christian girl. She was forced to leave her loving Mom, Dad and brothers and sisters behind. She was taken to Germany, into forced labor, where she would endure much hardship. The 40 stocks of farm animals she so often talked about laboring, twenty of those stocks were cows, which she was forced to milk by hand. Out of the twenty cows, two were the most difficult to milk. At the end of the day, her hands would shake to the point that she could not hold the spoon to feed herself.....A Frenchman, mom said, also a forced laborer, took his belt and wrapped it around mon’s wrist, so that her hand would stop shaking long enough so that mom could manage to feed herself. Mom managed to run away twice from this farm. The first time she escaped, a Nazi Officer slapped her face with his leather glove, put mom on the back of his motorcycle and took her back to the same farm.....She managed to escape once again, this time reaching the forced labor office and telling them that she was willing to work hard but the two cows were impossible to milk. She then was placed to work at another farm where she stayed until the end of the war. At the end of the war, Poland was now under communist Russia control. Mom now a refugee, at a refugee camp in Germany, had a choice to make.....either go back to her homeland Poland, which was now under communist Russia control or go to another country....She chose to leave. But leaving was not as easy. You had to be a married couple or a family in order to be able to apply to leave the country. Dad met our Mom, at the German refugee camp, who asked her to marry him and she accepted. Now being a married couple, they were allowed to apply to leave the country. They wanted to go to America but they needed a sponsor in America. Australia was a choice but they chose Venezuela due to the labor list. Upon arriving to Venezuela, the government gave each refugee five dollars, and were told to go and find jobs to support themselves. It took Mom and Dad 15 years to be able to enter the United States of America, and also needing a sponsor and a job waiting for Dad. By then, they had three children and Dad and Mom had built a house of concrete blocks with their own two hands. Mom was lucky marrying Dad. Dad knew how to do everything. He was a Jack-Of-Old Trades. They finally arrived in the United States Of America, with just one luggage, and in the luggage their most precious possession.....A framed picture of the Blessed Mary holding her son Jesus, which hangs on our wall to this day.

Helena Komornicki

November 1, 1923 - January 18, 2024