Jennie Szymanski Mierzejewski, 78, died on Monday, December 5, 2005, at St. Luke's Hospital.
Born in Dartmouth, she was the daughter of the John Szymanski (1884-1977) and his wife Karolina Twarog Szymanski (1888-1964).
Educated at Dartmouth High School as a member of the class of 1945, Mrs. Mierzejewski frequently co-chaired the quintennial reunions of her class.
A graduate of the Kinyon-Campbell Business School, Jennie progressed through a series of positions in the finance industry, eventually retiring in 1959 from her position as office manager at the Wamsutta Finance Company. Thereafter, she would devote her energies to family and community: the pillars of her life.
She retired to start a family in 1959. With the birth of son John in 1960, she became a devoted mother.
But she also made time to serve in many civic and charitable organizations. She was twice president of the Polish-American War Veterans Auxiliary; she also served as treasurer of that organization for thirty years. For more than two decades, she co-chaired the Polish-American Veteran Charity Balls, which raised money for the Schwartz and Kennedy-Donovan Centers; Jennie frequently represented her local chapter as a delegate to the state Polish-American War Veteran conventions.
Jennie also served as treasurer of the UMASS/Dartmouth Library Associates for twenty-five years, helping to raise money for the Library Browsing Area and other special library projects.
She was an early member of the University's Society for Human Advancement thru Rehabilitative Engineering (better known as the SHARE Foundation).
Jennie enjoyed travel; she especially cherised an extensive trip through Europe and the opportunity to re-visit the birthplaces of both her parents and the the opportunity to connect again with the few relatives who were still alive in 1975.
She also enjoyed trips to Mexico and Canada and the many family travels visiting relatives, acquainting herself with every major United States National Park and all the major population centers in the United States. Later, she enjoyed her Floridian winters.
A gregarious person by nature, Jennie greatly enjoyed her work, communal activities and travels. But it was within the family circle that she really sparkled.
Jennie, or Auntie "Janki" (pronounced "Yaun-key") as she was called within the family inner circle, revelled in hosting events for her many doting nieces and nephews; she took great delight in tickling the palates of all with her own mother's recipes of traditional Polish fare; those delicacies were particularly popular with the male in-laws of non-Polish extraction. and yes, they quickly learned correctly to pronounce the name "Janki" -- to her everlasting eye-twinkling delight.
But Jennie's culinary delights were not limited to just Polish fare. Indeed, her cakes, lemon squares and chocolate brownies were always of gourmet quality and disappeared quickly. And the faster they disappeared the happier she was; for Jennie, the quick disappearance of her food was the ultimate compliment.
She is survived by her son John Andrew Mierzejewski of Mattapoisett and her husband Professor Emeritus Walt Mierzejewski.
A Memorial Service will be held at 11 A.M. on Sunday, January 22, 2006 in the Browsing Area of the Library Building at the campus of UMass/Dartmouth. The public is warmly invited to attend. A hot meal will be served at noon. Please call 508-758-2467 and leave a message before January 15th to reserve a seat.
A permanent memorial is planned for Jennie at the library; in lieu of flowers, checks may be mailed as follows:
J.S.M. Memorial Fund
c/o UMass/Dartmouth Foundation
285 Old Westport Road
Dartmouth, MA 02747