Leonard Cyril Blaskowski, of Riggsville, passed away May 25 at Hiland Cottage Hospice House in Petoskey following many months of frail health since having a stroke. He was 89. “Lenny” was widely known as a sweet corn farmer and a Cheboygan Area Schools custodian and bus driver.
Though retired from CAS for years, Lenny frequently was stopped in a store or on the street by people who wanted to say “Hi” to the man who drove them to school. Often, he had driven their children or parents, too. After he retired from Inverness Elementary School, Lenny continued to grow sweet corn for a few years on the Riggsville farm where he was born on Sept.
4, 1929. He was one of 10 children of Victor and Frances (Mushlock) Blaskowski. Lenny and his wife, Jean, whom he married on Feb.
3, 1951, raised their own six children on that East Dotski Road farm. Lenny took farming seriously. During corn season, he’d spend long daylight hours picking in the fields, then count out the dozens for store deliveries until well past midnight, working under glowing yard nights.
“Lenny’s Sweet Corn” was a looked-for sign on Riggsville Road in early August, and Lenny always aimed to have the first local corn. Unselfish, tough and practical, Lenny took what life offered with little complaint. He believed in lending a hand to family, neighbors and friends, and cared for twin daughters with special needs well into his senior years.
His other adult children and grandchildren regularly got Grandpa-made meatloaves before he took ill. (No slouch in a kitchen, Lenny once cooked at the old Norland Restaurant in downtown Cheboygan. ) Lenny loved the outdoors – fishing, camping and especially deer hunting.
He even made two moose hunting trips to Canada. He knew his way around butchering, and processed more deer for family and friends than anyone can count. Lenny delighted in jokes – especially Polish ones – and often made a good-natured joke about himself.
He relished a good game of Smear, and would grin widely when his ace took an opponent’s jack. He also bowled and liked pulling slot machine handles. After suffering a disabling stroke in February 2017, Lenny was able to continue living at the farm with the loving, round-the-clock care of family members.
In the last weeks of his life, Lenny lived at Medilodge of Cheboygan. He was preceded in death by his oldest son, Richard, killed in service in Vietnam in 1970; a daughter, Marilyn, who died in 2018; and by his wife Jean, who passed away in 2014. Leonard Blaskowski is survived by two sons and two daughters: Robert Blaskowski, of Riggsville; Gary (Gail) Blaskowski, of Grand Rapids; Carolyn Blaskowski, of Afton; and Julie (Don) Stacks, of Riggsville.
Also surviving are seven grandchildren: Katie (Jason) Wiley and Danny Stacks, both of Riggsville; Kristie Stacks, of Grand Rapids; Joey Stacks, of Norfolk, VA; Lisa (Chris) Anderson, of Chicago; Amy Blaskowski, of Salt Lake City, UT, and Jessica (Justin) Boman, of Cheboygan. Great-grandchildren Tyler, Emma, Devin and Kendall also survive. Also surviving are one sister, Josephine Robydek; one brother, Joseph (Mattie) Blaskowski; and two sisters-in-law, Shirley Blaskowski and Agnes Blaskowski, all of the Cheboygan area.
Five brothers, John, Stan, Roman, Bernard and Edmond, and two sisters, Mary LaMack and Helen Pardun, preceded him in death. Services will be Wednesday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Polish Line Road, of which he was a loyal and longstanding member. Visitation starts at 9:30 a.m. followed by a funeral mass at 11 a.m., with burial to follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Straits Area Services, 1320 W. State Street, Cheboygan. Nordman Funeral Home in Cheboygan is handling arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.
stonefuneralhomeinc.com.
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