Wiktoria Rodnicki

Wiktoria (Popiel) Rodnicki, 79, a Polish war veteran who celebrated freedom by marching for 20 years in Newtown’s Labor Day Parade, died July 5, in St Vincent’s Medical Center.

Born in Bukaczowce, Poland, she lived in Bridgeport before moving to Newtown 35 years ago.

In an article, “One Woman’s Cherished Right: The Vote,” in the November 1998 edition of The Bee, Mrs Rodnicki said she and her family were taken from their home in Poland in 1939 when she was 16 and forced to work in a Russian labor camp. Although her parents died there, she eventually was able to escape to Pakistan. In time, she made her way to the Persian Gulf, where she worked in a hospital in Teheran, Iran. Then she made her way to Palestine and enlisted in the Polish army in exile. During World War II she drove a truck through Egypt and northward to Italy.

In Italy, she met the man she would marry, Pawel Rodnicki, who had also joined the Polish resistance after escaping a Russian concentration camp. After the war, they traveled to England where they lived for five years, before moving to the United States in 1952. Mr Rodnicki died in 1973.

Wiktoria Rodnicki was well known for marching with a placard in the Labor Day Parade and participating in Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day ceremonies. In The Bee article, she said she always voted, considering it a privilege and a symbol of the freedom that she had not always enjoyed.

A homemaker, Mrs Rodnicki was a member of the White Eagles Club and the Ladies Auxiliary in Bethel.

She was the loving mother of Elizabeth (Lisa) Pander, and her husband, John, and Teresa Rainieri, all of Fairfield. Additionally, she is survived by three granddaughters, Patricia, Sandra, and Teresa M. Rainieri; one great-grandson, Chace Ardito; one brother, Julian Popiel, and his wife, Helen, of Poland; and several nieces and nephews. She was also predeceased by her son, Leslaw Rodnicki, and two brothers, Ted and Stanley Popiel.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held July 9 at St Rose of Lima church. Internment followed in St Rose Cemetery.

The Lesko Funeral Home, 1209 Post Road, Fairfield Center, was in charge of arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to St Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470.

The Newtown Bee         July 13, 2001