- Date Of Birth: December 12, 1924
- Date Of Death: January 31, 2018
- State: Indiana
Lee Stackowiak, 93, passed away on Wednesday January 31, 2018, at Dujarie House at Holy Cross Village, Notre Dame, IN. She was born in Los Angeles, CA, grew up in Huntington, NY, and settled in South Bend in 1947 with her husband of 71 years, Casimer “Cas” Stackowiak.
Lee served in the Women’s Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service Program (WAVES) in Washington, D.C., where she met Cas, a South Bend native who served in the Navy. They married on May 13, 1946. After a brief time in Mexico and Kansas, where Cas played professional baseball, they returned to South Bend to raise their family, work, and retire. Lee was an avid reader, preferring mysteries and science fiction, ideally while enjoying the sunshine and next to a pool. She graduated from Mrs. Skinners Secretarial School and attended Hunter College, and provided administrative support in banking and law in South Bend. Lee and Cas were members of Sacred Heart Parish and American Legion Pulaski Post #357, and Lee was a charter member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Lee is survived by her husband, Cas Stackowiak (South Bend, IN), her daughter, Anita Fretz (Plymouth, IN), her son, Robert (Jodie) Stackowiak (Half Moon Bay, CA and Elgin, IL), and four grandchildren, Tracy Hartzler (Santa Fe, NM), Amy Lee Hartzler (Washington, D.C.), Nicholas (Pang) Stackowiak (Elgin, IL), and Mike Stackowiak (Elgin, IL). She is preceded in death by her brother Leonard Rodau.
