BiedulKornilowicz, Zdzislawa
MILWAUKEE, Wis.
— Zdzislawa BiedulKornilowicz (nee Bilewicz), 96 years old, our beloved mother and grandmother, died on April 24, 2022, in Milwaukee, Wis.
She was born in Dolhinow, Poland (now Belarus) on May 2, 1925 (officially 1926). After the outbreak of World War II, in February 1940, Zdzislawa and her family were deported by the Soviets to a labor camp in Siberia. They remained there until September 1941, when they then spent eleven months journeying and waiting to leave the USSR; her sisters did not survive. Zdzislawa and her parents were transported out of Uzbekistan to then Persia (Iran) in August 1942. There, she met her dear friend Genia Haigh (Gruszewska). The family was transferred to Jerusalem by the British Army in August 1944 and remained there for three years. In Ain Karem, near Jerusalem, she completed high school with a group of Polish refugees who remained lifelong friends, despite dispersing across the globe: Marysia Stenzel (deceased), Danuta Praun (deceased), Krystyna Peczlewicz (deceased), Mieczyslawa Gawlak (deceased), Wieslawa Babos (deceased), Maryla Znamirowska, and Czeslawa Picheta.
In August 1947, Zdzislawa sailed to England where she met her future husband, Mieczyslaw, in the spring of 1951. They married in London in November 1952 and moved to Albany in 1953, where they were joined by her parents and brother, Henryk. They raised their four children in Albany where she dedicated her life to her family and created a beautiful home and a vibrant, flourishing garden; she was determined to create for her family the safe haven she had lost during the war. She wanted to ensure her children were never hungry, cold, or scared, to know safety, love, and opportunity. She instilled values of hard work, humor, and family in all of her children. After the children were grown, the extended family spent a week together every summer at Cape May Point and every Wigilia/Christmas either in Albany or Milwaukee, where Zdzislawa "Babcia" would always make nalesniki for her grandchildren and sneak them candy. Years after her husband’s death, she moved to Milwaukee, Wis. to be near her daughter, Krystyna, where she continued to gather her family around her.
She is survived by her four children and their spouses, Marian (Terri), Alexandra (Bob), Krys (Harold), and Marek (Linda); eleven grown grandchildren, Tadeusz (Cate), Laura (Drew), Malinda, Roman (Mirtha), Olivia, Hania, Gabriel, Andrzej, Lukasz, Krystian, and Stefan; and her cousins, Olimpia (Brent), Ania and Marek Maslyk. She was preceded in death by her parents, Piotr and Eugenia Bilewicz; brother, Henryk; sisters, Janina and Bozena; and her beloved husband of forty-six years, Mieczyslaw BiedulKornilowicz.
A memorial service will be conducted in Albany at a later time.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Ukraine Fund at the Kosciuszko Foundation at thekf.org/kf/support/donate. Please note that the donation is in honor of Zdzisia.