Kleszczynski, Mary C. (Wilusz)

Mary Christa Kleszczynski, 97, of West Hartford, beloved wife for 60 years of the late Joseph Edward Kleszczynski, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at Hartford Hospital. Born in Trzcianiec, Poland on December 11, 1926, daughter of the late Piotr and Krystyna (Roman) Wilusz, she was raised in Poland and attended school until the outbreak of World War II. At the age of 15, she was sent to Germany for forced labor where she stayed until the end of the war in 1945. Mary lived in a displaced persons camp in a zone that had been liberated by the American troops and was later sponsored by Catholic nuns to work in Canada for one year. While Mary was in Canada she wrote to her uncle and cousins who were living in the Collinsville section of Canton, CT and requested that they help her come to the United States. After arriving in the Hartford area, Mary found work as a nanny and as domestic help for the Fuller and Day families in Hartford. She later met her husband at a dance and they married, bought a home in Hartford and started a family. After becoming a US citizen in 1975, Mary returned to Poland to visit her family after being apart from them for over 30 years. Mary never lost her Polish roots and heritage and she and her husband were active members of the Polish community in Hartford. She was a member of the Polish National Alliance Lodge #464 and was an active parishioner of SS. Cyril & Methodius Church in Hartford for over 70 years. In her spare time, Mary enjoyed tending to the flower and vegetable gardens around her home, cooking and baking for her family and friends and spending time with her family. Most of all, Mary's central focus in life was her faith and her family. She loved being a wife and a mother but never forgot her family in Poland whom she continued to stay in touch with and help in any way that she could. She leaves four children, Chester J. Kleszczynski and his wife Elizabeth of Myrtle Beach, SC, Matthias Kleszczynski and his fiancé Hedy Kelley of Thomaston, Christina Rosemeyer and her husband John of Sanford, FL, and Teresa Z. Gilbert and her husband David of Portland; six grandchildren, C.J. Rosemeyer and his wife Jesenia of Honolulu, HI, Nicole Rosemeyer and her husband Robert Carmody of Orlando, FL, Callie Rosemeyer of Sanford, FL, Monica Astle and her husband Geoffrey of Myrtle Beach, SC, George Gilbert and his wife Jennifer of Canterbury, and Kimberly Kleszczynski and her partner Timo Kuester of Storrs; six great-grandchildren, Jacob, Belle, Ella, Paul, Bodhi, and Irene; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, close friends and their families in the United States and abroad. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by three brothers, Jozef, Michal, and Tadeusz Wilusz. A Mass of Christian Burial will be Celebrated on Saturday, April 13, 11 a.m., at SS. Cyril & Methodius Church, 63 Popieluszko Court, Hartford. Burial will be in Our Lady of Czestochowa Cemetery in Doylestown, PA. There are no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to SS. Cyril & Methodius Church, 55 Charter Oak Ave., Hartford, CT 06106, Archdiocese of Hartford – Office of Radio & Television (ORTV, Inc.), 15 Peach Orchard Road, Prospect, CT 06712-1052 or by visiting www.ortv.org/donate, or to the Felician Sisters, 1315 Enfield St., Enfield, CT 06082. Waszkelewicz South Green Memorial Home in Hartford has care of the arrangements. For online condolences and to view the Mass live or after Saturday, April 13th at 11 a.m., please visit, www.carmonfuneralhome.com.