Henrietta Ann Falendysz

Service Details

Private services will be held for Henrietta at Holy Cross Cemetery on January 4, 2023.  Condolence cards can be sent to the Falendysz Family at 5817 Middle Road, Racine, WI  53402.

RACINE – Henrietta Ann Falendysz was born to Polish Immigrants Jacob and Cecilia Rusak on May 6, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan.  Henrietta’s parents, along with their siblings (aunts and uncles) had fled Poland pursuing a better life in America and spent a lot of time working, sharing family duties with extended family. This developed Henrietta’s strong family values, as her parents strived to achieve the American Dream. They never sacrificed their firm grip on their Polish heritage while they chased this dream.  This would become the foundation of Henrietta’s life as she always cherished her own family and the traditions passed down from her parents. Henrietta went to Pershing High School in Detroit and as her high school years ended, she met a young Polish boy on a hayride she attended with her friends.  It wasn’t long after, Eugene Falendysz asked for her hand in marriage.  Eugene and Henrietta were married on September 5, 1953, while Gene was pursuing his Engineering degree at Lawrence University. Soon after marriage, they started their family.  While living in Detroit and for a short time, Kalamazoo, Henrietta was caring for their three young boys Gary, Eugene Jr, and Gregory before moving to Racine, Wisconsin in 1959 when Gene Sr took a job working for J I Case.  In 1962, they moved to the north side of Racine where they built the family homestead. Later they had two more children, Timothy and Cynthia.  As a member of St Rita, Henrietta was a Christian Mother and spent many hours helping in the classrooms of St Rita School.  As Henrietta’s children became older, she was able to enjoy sewing, ceramics and being a Girl Scout Leader. Henrietta loved to share her love of crafts.  Once her children were older, she also took on wood craft painting and embroidery. Gene and Henrietta purchased a cabin in Edgerton, Wisconsin in 1980 which became the meeting space for family and friends.  They loved to have their children and their children’s friends to the cabin, including hosting events like scrapbook weekends, quilting weekends, scout leader training and a lot of waterski weekends. Henrietta and Gene were a great team to host these events. Henrietta became Bobchi (grandma in Polish) to nine grandchildren including Emily, Elizabeth, Andrew, Jon, Nathaniel, Laura, Jennifer, Victoria, and Paige. She loved to spend time with her grandchildren and hosted them all together with Dzaidzi (Grandpa) at the cabin for a week or two each summer.  During this time, they enjoyed skiing, boat rides, fishing, campfires, the movie theater, and lots of crafts.  This was always a special time for them to enjoy the many personalities they each brought into the family.  In 1993, Gene and Henrietta took permanent residence at the cabin in Edgerton, Wisconsin.  In her retirement years, Henrietta spent time outside the home by taking embroidery classes with Gene and going to daily exercise classes.  Although she hated the dark mornings of winter, she still made sure she made it out the door to her classes each day. The 4^th generation of Falendysz’ s includes Anna, Callum, Samuel, Sebastian, Ada, Autry, Nolan, Adaline, and Norah. After the passing of her beloved husband of 55 years, Henrietta continued on her own taking care of the cabin and hosting more cabin gatherings for nearly fourteen years, including mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow into her eighties.  In the height of the Covid pandemic in July of 2020, Henrietta moved to Azura Memory Care facility in Oak Creek to be closer to her Racine family. Despite her last year’s being filled with confusion and anxiety from dementia, she always had a smile when her family visited, especially the great-grandchildren and often shared a traditional polish nursery rhyme with them.

The family is very grateful for the wonderful care she received at Azura Memory Care.  Henrietta will be missed by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her daughters-in-law Cindy (Gary’s wife) and Sue (Gene’s wife) and the spouses of her grandchildren Alex Macdonald (Emily), Juan Lopera (Elizabeth), Alicia (Andrew), Melissa (Jon), Heather (Nate) and Josh Rivers (Jennifer).

Henrietta was preceded in death by her parents, sister, brother, husband, and son-in-law Bill Stevens (Cyndi’s husband).

Private services will be held for Henrietta at Holy Cross Cemetery on January 4, 2023.  Condolence cards can be sent to the Falendysz Family at 5817 Middle Road, Racine, WI  53402.