SIKORSKI Family History, Part II
Mary KAMINSKA (1896-1905)
13x. Mary Kaminska was born on April 5, 1896 in St. Louis County, Minnesota. She lived in Hibbing, St. Louis County, up until 1905. Later that year she tragically died on November 4 in Ashland County, Wisconsin at the young age of 9. She was buried five days later at Saint Agnes Cemetery in Ashland.
- Cen 1900: 15 Jun 1900 Census, Second Avenue, Hibbing, Stuntz Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
- Cen 1905: 5 Jun 1905 Census, 225 Pine Street, Hibbing, Stuntz Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
Rudolph "Rudy" William KOMINSKIΔ (1902-1969)
133. Rudolph "Rudy" William KominskiΔ was born on May 29, 1902, in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He married Frances Mae Congleton, a native of Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, on May 14, 1927, in Marion, Grant County, Indiana. They lived in Gary, Lake County, Indiana, where he coached public high school swimming at Horace Mann High School. Rudy and Frances had at least two sons:
| 1331. | Thomas Wayne Kominski | (1931-1932) | 20 May 2005 | (73) |
| 1332. | Richard A. KominskiΔ | 9 Mar 1934 | 8 Aug 2010 | (76) |
"Rudolph "Rudy" W. Kominski, Gary Horace Mann High School (1932-56)"
"Rudy Kominski coached his high school boys swim team to two state championship team titles, one in 1936-37, and one in 1952-53. Horace Mann also finished as state runner-up in 1941. Over the course of his career, his teams produced 14 individual state champions. An interesting fact about Rudy was that he could not swim. His athletes always threw him in the shallow end of the pool after a big victory."
During the 1930 census, Rudolph and Frances were noted residing at 2010 West Fifth Avenue in Gary, behind Horace Mann High School (524 Garfield Street),[Cen 1930] where he began working as physical eduation coach. Later they moved four blocks west to 357 Taft Street by 1935,[Cen 1940] where he lived the rest of his life.
Rudy's cousin Blanche (Sikorski) Wargin3 visited him in Gary around 1950.
Rudolph William Kominski died of cardio vascular disease at 6:56 AM on August 4, 1969 at the Lake County Convalescent Home in Crown Point, Lake County, Indiana. He was 67 years old. His residence at the time of his death was at 357 Taft Street in Gary and his occupation was listed as a coach. Services were held on August 6 at the Burns Memorial Chapel at 675 Adams Street in Gary. Rudy was laid to rest at Calumet Park Cemetery in nearby Merrillville, Lake County, Indiana.
Frances continued to live in Gary through 1993 and then moved to nearby Crown Point by 1996.
Frances Mae (Congleton) Kominski, died 28 years after Rudy in Lake County, Indiana, on July 26, 1997. She was one day short of her 89th birthday. Frances was also buried in Calumet Park Cemetery.
- Cen 1905: 6 Apr 1905 Census, 225 Pine Street, Hibbing, Stuntz Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
- Cen 1910: 26 Apr 1910 Census, Bovey Village, Itasca County, Minnesota
- Cen 1920: 12 Jan 1920 Census, Gilbert, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
- Cen 1930: 7 Apr 1930 Census, 2010 West Fifth Avenue, Gary, Calumet Township, Lake County, Indiana
- Cen 1940: 3 Apr 1940 Census, 357 Taft Street, Gary, Calumet Township, Lake County, Indiana
Blanche M. (SIKORSKI) WARGIN3 (1909-1980)
151. Blanche (Bronisława) M. Sikorski3 was born in Virginia, St. Louis County, Minnesota on either June 25 or July 2, 1909, and baptized on July 4 at Sacred Heart Church in Virginia. Her mother died six months later and Blanche is said to have been raised by two maiden aunts in Minnesota. She eventually moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attended university, and married Casimer Stanley Wargin on June 6, 1936. She had three children:
| 1511. | Robert Wayne Wargin | 8 Mar 1938 | 9 Dec 2006 | (68) |
| 1512. | Richard Dennis Wargin | |||
| 1513. | Joan Karen Wargin4 |
Blanche's birth certificate records her birth name as "Alexandra Sikolski," born in Virginia to "Zeno Sikolski" and "Alexandra Sikolski" (name field specifies full maiden name). Her parents lived at 226 Hickory Street and "Zeno," age 38, worked as a saloon keeper, and Alexandra was age 22. Her mother's death certificate of six months later also note the address of 226 Hickory Street.
It is unknown why her birth certificate lists her name as Alexandra. Perhaps her name was changed to Blanche to honor her paternal aunt and lessen the pain of sharing her mother's name, or perhaps they had not settled on a name at the time of her birth and simply wrote in her mother's name as a temporary name.
Her baptismal record adds more questions by naming her as "Bronislaam" (Bronisława, for which "Blanche" has been noted as an alternate), but curiously note her parents as "Zenone" and "Bronislaa" (not Alexandra!). Blanche's godparents are also noted as "Joannes Sikorski" and "Seokadia," possibly a reference to her uncle John, but John is not known to have been married.
Even more curious, Blanche shows up on the 1910 census with her father and uncles John and Ben at 226 Hickory Street as "Bessie," a 9-month old infant in April 1910 (correctly indicating that she was born about June or July 1909).
Blanche was a small, frail woman, who was very closed-mouthed about her and her family's past. She was raised Catholic but later became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Blanche graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in June 1930 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education.[Trans 1930]
Blanche is known to have made at least two trips back to Poland as a young adult to visit relatives. Judging from family photos the first was in the summer of 1929 and stretched into early winter, returning to Wisconsin by January 1930 when at least three rolls of film were developed. The second trip was prior to Blanche's wedding to Casimer, she took a trip back to Poland, likely in the summer of 1935[Pass 1935] and returned in early 1936. She returned aboard the M.S. Pilsudski, setting sail from Gdynia, near Gdańsk, Poland, on January 25, 1936, and arriving in New York on February 4, 1936. She was identified as being age 26, born June 25, 1909 in Virginia, Minnesota, and listed her address as that of her "Aunt Bronislawa Kaminska" at 1661 S. 10 Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[Pass 1935]
About 1950, Blanche and the family traveled to Gary, Indiana, to visit relatives, presumably Rudolph Kominski.
Blanche M. (Sikorski) Wargin, died on December 25, 1980, at her residence at 948 West 9th Street in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. Her ashes are buried at her daughter's-in-law family farm on Pleasant Mill Road in Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia. Her headstone, as arranged by Cas, is marked with a birth date of July 2, 1909.
- Bap 1909: 4 Jul 1909 Baptism, Sacred Heart Church, Virginia, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
- Cen 1910: 18 Apr 1910 Census, 226 Hickory Street, Virginia, Saint Louis County, Minnesota
- Trans 1930: June 1930 Transcript, University of Wisconsin at Madison
- Pass 1935: U.S. passport 228723, issued July 16, 1935
- Mar 1936: Marriage Certificate, 6 Jun 1936, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
- Cen 1940: 15 Apr 1940 Census, 1629G Bordeaux Street, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana