RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Rose Mary Pietrusiak, born Rozalja Chmielewski, will celebrate the joyful occasion of her One-Hundredth Birthday on February 4, 2018; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this event by Alderman Roberto Maldonado; and
WHEREAS, Rose Mary married Walter "Wally" Pietrusiak at St. Fidelis Church at 1406 North Washtenaw Avenue on June 5, 1937 (she was 19 and he was 21) and moved into an apartment on Mozart near Augusta; and
WHEREAS, That same year they moved into a vacant first floor of her mother's building at 1109 North Richmond Street in the Humboldt Park community and joined St. Mark's Catholic Church, which, although considered an Irish Parish by the Archdiocese of Chicago had many Polish immigrant parishioners; and
WHEREAS, Wally enjoyed working at a good-paying union job at the iconic Burny Brothers Bakery on Augusta near Cicero - the largest variety bakery in the United States - as the couple raised three sons; and
WHEREAS, In the late 1940's and 1950's, the second floor of 1109 North Richmond Street was occupied by one of Wally's sisters, Irene, her husband Ted, and their two children, while on the third floor, his other sister, Stella, lived with her husband and two children; and
WHEREAS, In 1975, Rose's twice-widowed mother passed away, leaving the three-flat on Richmond to five adult children; and
WHEREAS, Rose and Wally purchased the Richmond property from Rose's siblings and made it solely their home; and
WHEREAS, Wally was 93 when he passed in August of 2008; and
WHEREAS, On October 20, 2017, Norwegian American Hospital purchased 1109 North Richmond Street from Rose, after years of offering to purchase the building; and
WHEREAS, Rose felt she could no longer adequately maintain the house and was running low on money to keep her caregiver. Though her sons offered to assist her, she wished to maintain her financial independence and decided to sell her home on Richmond which had been in her family for genera...
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