RIP Patricia Sapko Zielinsky 1932-2008

[rosinavs]

I just got back from having a beer in the closest neighborhood bar.  Unfortunately, it wasn't for my birthday, it was in memory of my Aunt Patty.  She passed away this morning from lung cancer.  The reason I had a beer in a neighborhood bar in her memory was that she owned and operated a neighborhood bar for years.  This, of course, was back when women didn't own businesses, much less work outside the home, especially when they were married with six kids.  She had to rip a few men a new one in order to get them to do business with her, but she successfully took over the bar from my grandfather and ran it for decades until she decided to retire.  She was a fantastic cook, and still found time to cook for her kids, grandkids, and church bake sales, where her  signature baked goods commanded premium prices and went fast.  I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if my mother got the spaghetti sauce recipe that I'm making tonight from her.  I know for sure that we got our family lasagne recipe from her, a recipe that the Italians who worked with my uncle thought was better than their wives'.  My aunt ran a business full-time while still caring for a physically abusive husband and six children, one of whom has a mental disability because my aunt was abused while pregnant.  However, the regulars at the bar are the ones responsible for the fact that my cousin can now hold down a job.  When my aunt had an emergency and had to leave my cousin in charge of the bar, the regulars helped her total orders, make change, and operate the cash register.  After my uncle died, my aunt got engaged soon after to an old flame, but he passed away of a heart attack before they were married.  Afterwards my aunt found a boyfriend whom she dated but never married, as her remarriage would cause her to lose her first husband's pension, without which they would not be able to afford to live.  I'm sure I'll see my pseudo-uncle at the funeral on Saturday.  With him my aunt travelled all over the US after she retired.

She never was able to go to college, she lived through abusive situations, but she accomplished remarkable things with what she had.  Patty Zielinsky deserves to rest in peace.  Please raise a glass for her (or a bottle or can, she wasn't fancy) at a neighborhood bar in her memory.