- Date Of Birth: November 23, 1921
- Date Of Death: March 28, 2022
- State: Connecticut
Toni’s family would like to recognize and thank all the people (the village) that cared for Toni and made it possible for her to reach 100 years. Toni was blessed to have a staff of angels caring for her at Apple Rehab of Colchester, a wonderful group of dedicated and caring professionals. Also, thank you Doctors J. Carey Laporte at Apple Rehab, David P. Roy at Starling Physicians in Plainville, and Mary Gina Ratchford at Ratchford Eye Center in Berlin, for the wonderful attention you gave Toni at critical times during her life. Our grateful appreciation is also extended to the doctors and staff of the Middlesex Hospital system who cared for and comforted Toni during her final was the sole remaining child of six children. Their names and birth years are: Stephan 1913, Mary 1915, Regina 1917, Casimer 1919, Antonina (Antoinette) 1921, and Sally 1925. Her parents were married in Poland and emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1913 with their infant Stephan. They settled in New Britain. In 1921, Viktoria visited Poland with her four children not knowing she was pregnant with Antoinette. During her time in Poland, Viktoria gave birth to Antonina (Antoinette) near Bialystok, Poland. After returning to New Britain, Jozef and Viktoria ran a grocery store. Viktoria was a skilled butcher. Later, during the depression, the family moved to a farm in Granby. There, Toni attended a one-room schoolhouse until high school when she attended and graduated from Simsbury High School. She was walking home from school on the day of the “Hurricane of 1938” when she saw a distant row of pine trees blown down by the strong winds, a frightful experience. After graduation, she moved to Hartford to join her sisters Mary and Regina, who were already living there. In Hartford, she worked as a secretary for different companies. Years later, at age 55, she again worked in Hartford as a secretary for Aetna until her retirement ten years later. The family moved back to New Britain prior to WWII and lived in a three-family house on Burritt Street. For most of her life, she was a busy wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, great aunt, and godmother. She had an extensive extended family. Besides working at the family bakery, she chauffeured her children to Catholic elementary and high schools, art and swimming lessons, and little league. She was a long-time communicant of Holy Cross Church, and she was a member of the Ladies Guild, the choir, and assisted in the processing of the offertory envelopes. She valued a Catholic education for her children, and she sent them both to Holy Cross School and Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. Her children received all of their sacraments at Holy Cross Church. She was also married at Holy Cross and will be buried from there in a few days. Toni loved to travel or spend summer vacations at the beach. The road trip vacations were mostly in the New England states and New York. John and Toni never made motel reservations in advance, and this made for some stressful days for the kids in the back seat who stressed the need to find a motel with a pool. The back seat emptied as David and Karen grew older; but John and Toni kept traveling. They vacationed in California, Arizona, Florida, and Branson, Missouri. She once met Bobby Vinton in a hotel elevator in Miami. Toni also vacationed with her sister Regina in Hawaii, and she came home with the coconuts to prove it. Toni enjoyed spending time in the Mount Desert Island area of Maine visiting Karen. She loved the natural beauty of the area. Toni and Karen would pack a picnic lunch and venture out each day. They walked flat trails and climbed mountains together, some being pretty extreme. She climbed her last mountain when she turned 80. She simply said that it would be flat trails from then on. She loved to eat lobster and steamed clams at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound. Toni and John were married for 55 years. She remained a widow for almost 21 years. She remained in the home they had built in New Britain until she required more daily living attention beyond what assisted living services could provide. She relocated to Apple Rehab of Colchester, where she would be closer to her children. She took part in their recreational programs, and she often spoke highly of their food service. She always said that the cooks must be Polish women! Beyond the achievements of her own children, Toni was very proud of the achievements of her grandchildren. She liked to attend Amanda’s high school basketball games when the games were in the New Britain area. She attended their junior high, high school, and college graduations (Boston University, New York University, and UConn Law School). She was able to celebrate all their sacramental milestones, including their weddings. She enjoyed the arrival of four great-grandchildren. She was happy to see the arrival of another red head in the family, like herself, Zeigh; and she admired the naturally curly hair of Zeta, Tommy, and Andi. She thought the girls were so lucky that they didn’t have to get perms like she did. She liked poring over their photographs, and she particularly enjoyed the Tommy and Andi videos. She liked to knit and do challenging jigsaw puzzles. She was also an avid fan of UConn women’s basketball. She loved to go to the casino. She liked the Bingo sessions, and she had a favorite slot machine at Foxwoods.“You can shed tears that she is gone,Or you can smile because she has can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,Or you can open your eyes and see all she’s heart can be empty because you can’t see her,Or you can be full of the love you can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of can remember her only that she is gone,Or you can cherish her memory and let it live can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,Or you can do what she’d want: smile, open your eyes, love, and go on”– David Harkins.
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