Mary Czarnecki

Mary E. Czarnecki lived on her own until a short while ago, when she moved to  the Harbor Village senior apartments in Port Washington to be closer to her grandson and his family.

“She was fun to hang around with,” her grandson Craig Czarnecki said. “She was funny and kind of feisty.

“She was pretty happy go lucky. She had a good sense of humor, but she liked things her way.”

Mrs. Czarnecki enjoyed watching Green Bay Packers football games and had a $1 bet going with her grandson’s wife Carol for each game.

She enjoyed dancing and listening to polka and big band music, as well as playing cards with her sisters.

Mrs. Czarnecki, a former Whitefish Bay resident, died Monday, Oct. 7, at Lawlis Family Hospice in Mequon. She was 95.

She was born in Milwaukee on Feb. 2, 1924, the daughter of Anthony and Frances Rick Jarumbo.

She attended high school in Milwaukee until World War II and her father’s death forced her to leave school and go to work in a bakery.

On Oct. 5, 1946, she married Edward Czarnecki at St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church in Milwaukee.

After she married, she worked at Western Leather Co. in Milwaukee for many years.

Like many women of her era, Mrs. Czarnecki never drove. Her husband chose to give up driving after World War II, her grandson said, so they took a taxi or bus wherever they went.

Mrs. Czarnecki was a member of Holy Family Catholic Parish in Whitefish Bay.

She and her husband enjoyed taking trips to Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mrs. Czarnecki is survived by her grandsons Craig (Carol) Czarnecki of Port Washington and Scott Czarnecki of Green Bay; eight great-grandchildren; and sister-in-law Betty Jarumbo of The Lakes, Fla.

She was preceded in death by her husband Eddie in 2017; son Dennis; brothers John, Leo and Edward Jarumbo; sisters Sally Troka, Angeline Balsewicz and Helen Murray; brothers-in-law John Jarumbo, Joseph Troka, Boniface Balsewicz and Archie Murray; and sisters-in-law Alice and Genevieve Jarumbo.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at noon Saturday, Oct. 12, at St. John XXIII Catholic Parish, St. Peter of Alcantara Church in Port Washington. Father Pat Wendt will officiate.

Burial will be at Holy Cross Cemetery, Milwaukee.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Eernisse Funeral Home, Port Washington.