SS Ryndam Outward Passenger List [3]
1942 Jan Siwiak enlisted in the Air Force on December 29, 1942, and was released on December 18, 1948. The Department of Veteran Affairs lists his birth date as 12 July 1915 and his death date as 17 January 1979. [1]
1945 Jan Siwiak and Bronislawa Filarowska were married on September 29 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. [2]
1956 Jan and Bronislawa Siwiak and their children Tadeusz, Kazimierz and Jadwiga embarked on April 25 from Southampton, England, on the ship Ryndam bound for New York via Halifax. Their address in England was 103 Winn St., Lincoln, and they were stateless.
My Dad's hobby was photography, including developing and printing. He took the Halifax pictures.
Halifax was an intermediate port of call for the Ryndam. The final port, our destination, was the Port of NY on May 4, 1956. That was a special day because it was my Mom's birthday. My Dad called us all on deck and "presented" the Statue of Liberty to my Mom on her birthday.
Bronislawa's parents, Wladyslaw and Franciszka, arrived in New York on the ship Maasdam a few months later, on October 6, also from the U.K. [9] [10]
1979 Jan Siwiak died on January 17 in New York. His last residence was Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. [11] [12]
2013 Bronislawa Siwiak died on February 5 in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. An obituary states, [13]
Bronislawa (Broni) Siwiak, born May 4, 1925 in Lwow, then in eastern Poland, died peacefully February 5. Broni was deported along with her parents to a Siberian gulag during Stalin's ethnic cleansing of eastern Poland in 1939. Upon their liberation two years later, they made their way through Russia, Persia then Kenya and to the British camps in Uganda. There she enlisted with the British Forces who transported her by ship to England, where she served as an airplane mechanic in the Polish Wing of the RAF. After the War, she married Jan, a Polish RAF fighter, bomber and reconnaissance pilot and raised three children in the UK. After migrating to the US in 1956, Broni became involved with a Polish Childrens' Dance Group at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She went on to lead the group as President for many years. In 1968, she took a bus load of children to Washington DC, where, with the assistance of the late Congressman John Rooney, the children danced for the late President Johnson in the White House, and presented him with a gift. Upon moving to Plantation, FL in 1987, Broni volunteered for the next 19 years at a local nursing home, putting on Christmas pageants, conducting prayer services and sitting with many ill residents bringing them comfort. She also served during that time as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church. After relocating to Annapolis in 2007, Broni continued her volunteering at the Caring Collection. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Jan; her parents, Wladyslaw and Franciszka Filarowski; and three siblings, Stanislaw, Edward and Valeria. She is survived by her two sons, Ted and Kai Siwiak; her daughter, Jadwiga Balzano; eight grandchildren, Marek and Robert Siwiak, Kasia Romo, Joseph and Diana Siwiak, Phillip, Max and Anne Marie Balzano; and four great grandchildren, Evan Siwiak, Tomas, Markos and Ella Romo. Visitation will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 10, at the Hardesty Funeral Home, 12 Ridgely Ave., Annapolis. Funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, February 11, at the Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA, with interment to follow. Contributions are suggested to Hospice of the Chesapeake, 445 Defense Hwy., Annapolis, MD 21401 www.hospicechesapeake.org.
[1] U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, [AncestryRecord].
[2] England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[3] UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[4] Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, [URL].
[5] Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, photo donated by Jadwiga (Siwiak) Balzano, [URL].
[6] Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, photo donated by Jadwiga (Siwiak) Balzano, [URL].
[7] New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[8] Family Document, Email, June 21, 2021.
[9] UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[10] New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[11] U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, [AncestryRecord].
[12] U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, [AncestryRecord].
[13] The Capital Gazette, Feb. 7, 2013, [LegacyObituary].