Wanda Bielecki tribute
My name is Don Hammill. To explain our family connection to Wanda, my mother and Wanda’s late husband Stanley were cousins. Stan was 15 years younger than Wanda, today we would call that a cradle robber! My mother was 18 younger than Stanley so he was designated as Godfather to my mom.
Stan, Wanda and my Mom were all born in Poland. Stan and Wanda’s children Greg and Marietta have lived exclusively in Calgary, as have I. Proud of my heritage I occasionally wore a tee shirt that said made in Canada from polish parts.
Well given that all of us lived in Calgary we would always gather for Christmas and also for some other holiday dinners. Wanda was known for continuous elegance so as you could imagine that for a Christmas dinner her hair, jewelry, clothes including her fur coat and polite feminine demeanor were what a person would expect from a classic glamorous Hollywood actress. Also as expected from a movie star, Wanda would enjoy a cocktail; typically it would be a martini.
Wanda also had a distinct accent and vocabulary. Notable to me was that if Wanda was to refer to someone who she was unfamiliar, as example a girlfriend of one of my sons who was not present Wanda would refer to her as “that girl”.
Wanda's teen years coincided with WWII and life in occupied Warsaw. Wanda learnt tenacity and how to endure and ultimately succeed.
Marrying Stanley and immigrating to Canada with “nothing” but tenacity she built a viable household to begin a family with her husband. This was accomplished without the many support agencies that are available to today’s immigrants to Canada.
In her last years her tenacity was again displayed as she fooled medical staff by greatly exceeding their longevity predictions, this despite many traumatic injuries related to falls in the care centers.
In recent months Wanda would come to my mind. On the day of her death I was in an inexplicable mood and when the phone rang I instinctively knew Greg and Marietta were calling and why.
Wanda has left this world but is again sharing her grace amongst other soles.
Sincerely with love,
Don Hammill and family.
