The Life of Anthony Raczkiewicz Jr.

I remember a lot of Sunday visits at either the home of my “Uncle Tony” or at our home. We saw them at the holidays at our grandparents’ house. I thought it was cool that Anthony bought a new car every few years. He had a lot of energy and walked and talked fast. ***** Anthony Raczkiewicz Jr was born Nov. 11, 1925. His parents, Anthony and Pauline, along with his older sister Lorraine, lived at 503 Milwaukee NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of his nicknames was “Junior” since he was named after his father. I am not sure of the origin of his other nickname “Jinky” ***** Anthony went to St. Adalbert School when he was young. He attended Union High School, where he was a cheerleader and participated in the Humane Club, R.O.T.C., and the Bar and Chevrons Club. He graduated from high school in 1943. ***** Later the same year, Anthony, when he was age 18, registered for the draft on November 11, 1943, while he worked at Bob’s Service Station, a gas station at 513 Stocking Avenue NW. Anthony was 5’ 8” tall and 135 pounds with a light complexion, brown hair and green eyes. He served in the Navy and after his military service, he attended Grand Rapids Junior College and received an Associate degree. ***** He married Cecilia Zalewski on July 23, 1949 at Sacred Heart Church when they were both 24 years old. In 1954, they lived at 658 Pine St. NW. For many of the early years of their marriage, Anthony Jr. and Cecilia were next door neighbors with his sister and her husband, John and Lorraine Dykstra on Pine Street, ***** Anthony worked as a timekeeper for Hayes Manufacturing and Cecelia was a nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital. In 1959, Anthony was a credit manager at St. Mary’s Hospital and they lived at 1006 6th Avenue NW. Their neighbor Richard Szymanski became a lifelong friend. After ten years at St. Mary Hospital, he moved to American Seating, a manufacturing company, as a production control analyst. ***** Their daughter Yvonne was born in May 1953 and Eileen was born in June 1956. They had four grandchildren. ***** Anthony, aged 80, passed away on January 29, 2006. Tony was preceded in death by his wife Cecilia a half a year earlier.