Henryk Julian Czaplak February 16, 1923 – May 06, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers View/Sign Guest Book| Send Sympathy Card Henryk Julian Czaplak Born 16th of February 1923 in Łodz, Poland At Rest 6th of May 2019 in La Jolla, California Gold Cross of Merit – Republic of Poland Honorary President – Wisła Chicago Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame Beloved husband of the late Janina Czaplak nee Marcjanek, Beloved Father to Jadwiga and Henia, Beloved Grandfather to David, Isabel, Kris, Matt and Nina, Beloved Great Grandfather to Valeska, Henryk, Adelynn, Brooke, Carmella and Anja. Visitation Friday May 17, 2019 from 11 AM until Funeral Service 12 Noon at the Skaja Terrace Funeral Home, 7812 N. Milwaukee Ave. , Niles.
Interment Maryhill Cemetery. Henryk will be remembered by all those who knew him for his quick wit, his devotion to his family, his great love of sport and his selfless generosity. Born the youngest of 3, his father passed away when he was 10.
At 16, he was forced to leave Poland due to the Second World War, making his way from Łodz to Austria. There he found work on a farm in 1941 with a family who had lost their son on the Eastern Front. Working on the farm until 1942, he wrote home to his mother to let her know he was alive and well; but the letter was intercepted, he was captured and placed into a work camp for the duration of the Second World War.
In the work camp, he met his wife, Janina, one day walking by the fence that divided them by yelling – “Hey, who’s from Łodz? ”. “I am” said Janina and from that day on he passed her eggs through the fence each day as he returned to his barrack from work.
They were both freed by US Army troops in 1944 and Janina and Henryk would be married soon thereafter in Germany remaining together for 74 years. Henryk’s daughters, Jadwiga and Henia, were both born in Germany and in the 1950s Henryk secured a visa to America via Catholic Charities. After finding work in Chicago, they settled in the Polish neighborhood of northwest Chicago where Henryk found work at Maryhill Cemetery in Niles – working there for over 40 years.
Devoted husband to Janina, he prided himself on his garden, the success of the Wisła Soccer club and following with interest the sporting careers of his grandchildren and grand-grandchildren who all inherited his love of sport. An active and proud member of Chicago’s Polish community for over 40 years, at 86, he said goodbye to his beloved Chicago for the warmer weather of California and passed away peacefully at home with his family at his bedside at the age of 96. He was loved by all those who knew him and will be remembered as a pillar of strength, loyalty, charity.
He will be deeply missed by family who is comforted to know that he is now reunited with his beloved Janina in heaven. Arrangements by Skaja Terrace Funeral Home, 7812 N. Milwaukee Ave.
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