Obit: Kulinski, Fryderyk (Fred) (1922 - 2013)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Kulinski, Lokaj, Bak, Klosowski, Andruszkiewicz, Roland, Lind, Daniels, Henrich, DeLashmutt, Friedel, Gora, Wybranska, Talaga

----Source: Thorp Courier (Thorp, Clark Co., WI) 4/03/2013

Kulinski, Fryderyk (Fred) (18 September 1922 - 23 March 2013) With Flag

Fryderyk (Fred) Kulinski went home to his creator, at his home, while under the care of special angels from Hope Hospice of Medford and his wife, Harriet, and son, Fabian, on Saturday, March 23, 2013.

Fred was born (Anno Domini) September 18, 1922, at Janow Lubelski, in the District of Lublin, Poland. He was a child of the union of the nobleman Karol Kulinski and Katrazyna Lokaj of Noble Hungarian roots.

He graduated in the spring of 1939, was a star athlete in soccer and a tutor at his High School in French and Latin. Fred also had high academic grades in Geography and History. Through the course of his life, he became proficient in several languages. He was to enter the University in the fall, when on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Axis ally Russia invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. The war took everything from him, but he never complained and always kept a cheerful disposition. He was hiding from forced conscription into the Communist forces, because the Communists put the conscripts on the front lines and forced them to fight against their own countrymen.

Germany ended the alliance with Russia, and the city he was hiding in was bombed by the German Luftwaffe. Buried unharmed in the rubble of a building, he was discovered by Germans clearing the roadways for supply and troop movements. He was shuttled through interrogation and detention centers and wound up in a forced labor center at Zeits near Gera, (Sachsen Anhalt) Germany.

In 1943, he received word of his father’s death at the hands of Soviet agents. He devised a plan and escaped. With the aid of some Croatian freedom fighters, he made his way to Krakow, Poland. There he managed to board a train for Lublin. At a checkpoint, he was discovered by the Gestapo, beaten and interrogated, and returned to a Strafflager near Gera, where he remained until the end of the war.

When the allies liberated the camps in 1945 and Stalin was allowed to take over Poland, he was unable to return home (because of Communist atrocities) and decided to head west, to an allied refugee pooling area at Leipzig, Germany.

From there, he went to a refuge center at Goppingen, Germany where he met the beautiful Jadwiga (Harriet) Anna Bak, a refugee from Lwow, Poland. They married on February 12, 1946, at Goppingen, and he enlisted and trained with the Allied Foreign Service Force to become an MP guarding vital USAF supply depots at Landsberg and other allied facilities in different locations, serving until 1953. There were 12 refugees DP camps they we shuttled through after the war.

Three children were born in these camps. Besides the Goppingen DP (Displaced Persons) camp, there was Fligerhorst, Württemberg, Schwabish hall (where Marie was born), Schwabish Gmund, Ludwigsburg, Heilbronn (where Christopher was born), Dillingen, Hochfeld, Landsberg, Kaiserslautern and Augsburg (Where Julian was born). He began working as a mason on refugee housing projects in 1954. He applied for US Immigration visa status for the family in 1954, where they received one of the apartments that he worked on at (Augsburg, Bayern/Bavaria) Germany. He applied for US Immigration visa status for the family in 1954 (a long process) and they finally boarded the MS Berlin at Hamburg in May of 1959. After arriving at New York following the 11-day voyage, they saw the Statue of Liberty as they pulled into port.

Via the Nickle Road Rail system through Buffalo/Detroit and Chicago to Duluth, they arrived at Lublin, WI in May of 1959 with nothing but a few clothes and family memorabilia, to the farm of Walter and Julia Klosowski who had sponsored the family, through Catholic Relief Services.

Fred and family worked on the farm, and he also worked at the Winger Dairy in Lublin where he learned the art of cheesemaking from his friend, Leon Andruszkiewicz. He then worked at the Bellinger Dairy and in later years at the Lombard Dairy. In 1960, their son Albert was born, in the land of freedom and opportunity. In 1963, Fred and his wife purchased their first farm, the 60 acres from their sponsors Julia and Walter Klosowski. Fred started working as the Lublin School custodian in 1964 and continued working on the farm. In 1966, their son Fabian was born in the USA. In 1967, they purchased their second farm, and in 1983, a third. In 1968, Fred started working for the Frederick Post Co. of Owen as a Fireman/Watchman alongside his friend, Buster Roland. In 1979, the ever-increasing workload on the farm and a workplace related injury caused Fred to concentrate on the farm.

In 1980, Fred made a return to Poland, to see his ailing 99-year-old mother and was informed of the horrors that the rest of his WWII surviving family members lived through under communism. Fred continued to farm until 1999.

In his spare time, he enjoyed playing chess and could have given chess master Boris Spasky a run for his money. He also like to fish and enjoyed his once a year birthday trip to the casino. Fred had a unique sense of humor and never left the cookie jar full.

He is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Harriet; daughter, Marie (Jim) Lind of Fairchild; sons: Christopher (Jill Daniels) of Withee, Julian (Viki) Kulinski of Withee, and Fabian of Lublin. Grandchildren: Caryn (Jeff) Henrich of Merrill, Nicole DeLashmutt and Lamont and (Paula) Friedel of Fairchild, Elijah of Tokyo Japan, Alissa of Madison, Aaron of Withee, and Kayla and Logan Kulinski of Bonnie, IL; great-grandchildren: Alissa, Dillon, Sera, Ashlynd and Ethan. He is further survived by a nephew, Slawomir (Janina) Kulinski; and two nieces: Janina (Jan) Gora and Irena Wybranska and their families, all of Poland; and brother-in-law, John (Josephine) Bak and family of Marion, WI.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Karol and Katrazyna; and a brother, Henryk, of Poland. He was also preceded by a son, Albert, of Lublin, WI in 1976.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. at Thorp Funeral Home in Thorp with Rev. Marion Talaga officiating. Visitation will be held on Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. until time of service at the funeral home.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.cuddiefh.com.  Thorp Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.