The Grasinski Girls
Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series
Series Editor: John J. Bukowczyk, Wayne State University
Framing the Polish Home: Postwar Cultural Constructions of Hearth, Nation, and Self, edited by Bożena Shallcross
Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939, by Karen Majewski
Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979, by Jonathan Huener
The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish-Americans, 1939–1956, by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
The Grasinski Girls: The Choices They Had and the Choices They Made, by Mary Patrice Erdmans
SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
M. B. B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University
Robert E. Blobaum, West Virginia University
Anthony Bukoski, University of Wisconsin–Superior
Bogdana Carpenter, University of Michigan
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Central Connecticut State University
Thomas S. Gladsky, Central Missouri State University (ret.)
Padraic Kenney, University of Colorado at Boulder
John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago (ret.)
Ewa Morawska, University of Essex
Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
Brian Porter, University of Michigan
James S. Pula, Purdue University North Central
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Piast Institute
Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University
Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University
The Grasinski Girls
The Choices They Had and the Choices They Made
Mary Patrice Erdmans
With the Grasinski Girls
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2004 by Ohio University Press
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
Vignette photograph of Angela Helen Grasinski Erdmans and figure 7 by Andrew Erdmans.
Cover: Top, left to right: Angel, Gene, and Mary at their home, Christmas 1956. Bottom, left to right: Fran, Caroline, Mari, Nadine, Angel, and Elaine (widow of Joe Grasinski), 1990.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Erdmans, Mary Patrice.
The Grasinski girls : the choices they had and the choices they made / Mary Patrice Erdmans.—1st ed.
p. cm. — (Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1581-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8214-1582-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Polish American families—Michigan—Case studies. 2. Women, White—Michigan—Case studies. 3. Grasinski family. 4. Erdmans, Mary Patrice—Family. 5. Michigan—Social life and customs—20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
F575.P7E73 2004
305.8'9185'073—dc22
2004015018
ISBN 978-0-8214-4161-9 (e-book)
Publication of books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series has been made possible in part by the generous support of the following organizations:
Polish American Historical Association, New Britain, Connecticut
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish
American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut
Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Inc., New York, New York
The Piast Institute: An Institute for Polish and Polish American Affairs, Detroit, Michigan
To Nathan Frances I pray you learn to sing
Contents
Part 1: Migrations and Generations
Introduction: St. Stan’s Cemetery
1. The Mothers of the Grasinski Girls
Frances Ann: The Lights of the City
2. Ethnicity in the Belly of the Family
Part 2: Choices Given, Choices Made
Nadine née Patricia: I Gave My Youth to Jesus Christ and My Old Age to Bob
3. What’s a Polish-American Girl to Do? Working-Class Girls in the Convent
Angela Helen: The Best Time in My Life, and the Worst Time
Mary Marcelia: I Thought I Was a Superwoman
5. The Importance of Being Mothers
Introduction: Agency and Resistance