By Lea Wojciechowski Ross
In September 1968, a Polish man arrived in New York. That winter, he moved to Detroit to live with his wife’s uncle, an American citizen, and to be part of the strong Polish community in Detroit. Like many, the Polish man traveled overseas to America for work, but his motive was unique – he needed to buy an artificial kidney for his wife, who was still in Poland and whose health was failing. He planned to return to Poland after a few months of working, but his wife died in Poland in May 1969. Within a couple of weeks, Chrysler offered him a job as an electrician, which he attributed to his late wife’s intercession from Heaven and took as a sign that he should make Hamtramck home. His young daughters, who had been in the care of family in Poland, joined him in Hamtramck in August of 1971. They all became American citizens in 1975 and settled into American life, while a part of their hearts still dreamt of their home country.
Eventually, the young daughters grew up and moved into the suburbs. Their father remained in his house in Hamtramck until he passed away on January 16, 2022, two days after his 96th birthday. Though his energy steadily declined and he became quieter in the last few years of his life, into his early 90s he still lived content in the routines of an immigrant man who spoke primarily Polish, walked to Bożek’s to buy Polish food, walked to Our Lady Queen of Apostles to attend Mass and socialize with his Polish friends after Mass, organized Masses for Poland (with the U.S. always included in the intentions!), read and listened to Polish news, waited for his children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren who brought him a new kind of joy!) to come visit, and recited Polish poems and served Polish snacks when they arrived.
This man loved Poland with all his heart. Though he lived in America for more than half his life and was deeply patriotic to the red, white, and blue, his first four decades of life were time enough to attach his heart and soul to his own great country as well. This man was plugged into the entire Polish community of Metro Detroit. Most of the Polish people in Southeastern Michigan knew him, and you may too… his name was Zenon Stępień.
I had, and still have, the privilege of calling him Dziadek.
I am blessed to feel like a celebrity sometimes, the granddaughter of a man who was a bit of a public figure in our niche community of immigrant and first or second generation Poles. When I mention Dziadek’s name at the American Polish Cultural Center or Our Lady of Częstochowa in Sterling Heights near my own home, to name a couple examples, people’s eyes light up and they start sharing how wonderful he was, how involved, how generous.
I am also blessed to know small details and nuanced personality traits that one can only know after years of experience sitting at someone’s kitchen table in Hamtramck. Dziadek was warm and welcoming with a twinkle in his eye; he was thoughtful, independent, and witty. His response to “Jak się masz?” (“How are you?”) was always “Nie mam powodu do narzekania” (“I have no reason to complain”). He could be completely silent for a time, just listening, or he could catch on to a topic that interested him and spend hours telling stories, singing songs, and reciting poems from his childhood and younger adult life.
Zenon Stępień loved history. History, both his own and that of his country, influenced his activities in his later life. Following are a few interesting facts to get to know him better:
- My Dziadek, as an 18-year-old young man, was a soldier in the Polish Home Army during World War II. On the night of August 18, 1944, he was injured by a grenade thrown by the enemy and spent the next three months bedridden. In his 60s, Dziadek was sworn in to the Polish Home Army Society in Metro Detroit. For many years, he served as the president of “Oddział Armii Krajowej w Metropolii Detroit” – the Polish Home Army Veterans of Metropolitan Detroit.
- Jerzy Popiełuszko, a holy Polish priest who preached about the dignity of the worker, a conviction opposed to the actions of the communist system, was killed in 1984. Inspired by Fr. Popieluszko’s commitment to the truth, my Dziadek organized monthly Mass for Poland for the next 30 years at various churches in Metro Detroit. He would participate by carrying one of three flags – the Polish flag, the Polish Home Army flag, or the American flag – down the church aisle in the processional and recessional, and he would often recite a poem from the ambo after Mass. My mother and I had the privilege of attending the beatification of Jerzy Popiełuszko in Warsaw in 2010. Dziadek was thrilled to hear about our experience.
- Dziadek loved reciting poems. He attributed his love for poems to Pan Kurkiewicz, his 4th grade teacher who helped the children learn poems. Dziadek’s memory for his “wiersze” (poems) was astounding. I remember a time (though he recited this one many times!), as my mother and I sat at Dziadek’s kitchen table, we listened as he recited from memory “Powrót Taty” by Adam Mickiewicz. It took him five minutes to recite the poem! Needless to say, it was impressive. It was as if the poem were stamped onto the wall of his brain and he was simply reading it. I also remember Dziadek reciting (for three minutes this time) a poem called “Śmierć Pułkownika.”
My Dziadek’s life and influence were such a blessing to me. I thank God that I knew him through my entire childhood and early adulthood into my 30s, and that he also had time with my husband and our two young sons who made him “Dziadzia.” I admire and respect him in so many ways – for his strength and perseverance, for his dry sense of humor, for his helpfulness and generosity, for his love for Poland and America and his Catholic faith, for his openness to making a new life in America, and for his loyalty to his family. He was truly an amazing man, a steadfast rock, wise and calm – and on January 14, 2026, we were thrilled to celebrate his life and memory on his 100th birthday (STO LAT!)! May he rest in the peace of Christ, side-by-side with Mama Mary and all the saints and angels!
