Maryanna MICHALAK (pronounced "me-hell-ka") was Polish, the daugher of Frank and Frances (KAWCZYNSKI) MICHALAK. Mary married John LANGNER in Poland. After their first son, Henry, was born, they moved to the United States in 1893.
Maryanna gave birth to eight children: Henry (1890), Joseph (1894), Alice (1895), Martin (1897), Veronia (1900), Frank (1901), Stella (1904), and Wlada (1908).
"The Langner children didn’t live long. Of John and Mary’s eight children, Elsie lived the longest. Veronia didn’t reach adulthood. Wada lived until she was 30. Joe died when he was only 35. Stella was 45. Frank died when he was 46. Hank and Marty died when they were 51. Elsie made it 60 years! All of her children died before their mother. She died of cerebral thrombosis due to generalized arterio sclerosis which was a condition she had for fifteen years." [*DLS]
"Her
son was a bigshot Councilman, and the best job he could get for his mother was
cleaning toliets at Morton High School?" [*RML]
She was blinded by cataracts around 1943, but the doctor fixed her eyes.
She lived in Cicero, Illinois, with her daugther, Stella REMBLOS, until Stella’s death in 1950.
"Uncle Frank [REMBLOS] would argue with Grandma and put her down. She didn't argue back, she just cried and went to her bedroom. I saw this happen." [*DLS]
"After Aunt Stella died, Grandma did stay with Uncle Frank and Dennis for a while, but Uncle Frank found himself a lady friend who moved in and slept with him. That didn't set well with Grandma, since Dennis was so young. She didn't like for him to live like that. She complained and made remarks, and Uncle Frank told her if she didn't like it she should leave. Yes, she gave them her house then she was told to leave. She went by Aunt Elsie, who lived upstairs. Things weren't going too well, so she went to Shirley. She stayed there for a while, but that didn't work out. Shirley had a small apartment. There really was no place for Shirley's family and for Grandma. She then went back to live by Aunt Elsie at that time Aunt Lottie (Wlada) was dead, while at Aunt Elsie." [*DLS]
"When Grandma was 90, she had her leg amputated, if I remeber correctly, she had cancer. She was a good patient, but she started to have trouble and go down hill. At 95 Aunt Elsie said the doctor wanted to amputate her other leg. Aunt Elsie said at her age she could never consent to that so she told the doctor to just make her as comfortable as possible. She died at Aunt Elsie's." [*DLS]
"Aunt Stella and Aunt Elsie took liberties with Grandma's insurance money. As a result, she was buried so poor I couldn't believe it. I don't know why Aunt Elsie didn't ask everyone to contribute a little. She would have had a better casket. Lord knows she deserved it. She had a plush casket. I think it's a sort of wood box covered with a material that looks a little like velvet. Still today when I think of it I could cry. She had such a hard life and worked so hard and had such a rough life. She deserved better. She sure is a saint in heaven - She has to be." [*DLS]
"Since Grandmother was one of the oldest residents of Cicero, when she died she had a police escort at her funeral, which was very impressive. I'm happy for that it made her an important person. She deserved the respect she got." [*DLS]
“As many times as I have seen my Grandmother, she was a quiet, loving person. I never knew her to get angry or raise her voice. However, I saw her cry. She was a saint and wouldn’t hurt anyone.” [*DLS]
[*DLS Dolores Langner Smolucha, *RML Raymond Martin Langner]
Many of the pictures displayed are small versions. Simply click on the image to see a bigger image.
Our thanks to Marsha Bryant for graciously hosting this LANGNER Family History website on her server.