Jan Baltasar Bambenek

1854 Widno - 1938 Winona

I was thirteen when my family took the train to Bremen,
And from there, the sailing ship Barbarossa to Quebec City,
And then, a lake boat to Milwaukee, and another train to La Crosse.
Finally a ferry boat to our new home: Winona, Minnesota.
Oceans and lakes and prairies full of new things and new ways.
An exciting time and place to be a boy!
I worked beside Father in his East Second Street grocery
In my twenties, I tended bar in Father's adjoining saloon
Where I developed a knack for local politics.
You see, we Polish (or Kashubs, if you will)
Had overrun Winona's East End, and the Fourth Ward
Was pretty reliably ours. We had Polish aldermen,
And Polish county councilmen, and Polish school commissioners,
Even a couple of Polish representatives to the State Assembly.
People from all over town liked "J.B."
If ever a Pole could be elected mayor of Winona,
It would certainly be "J.B." It couldn't happen.
But I did spend the last decades of my life as
Engineer of the Winona Water Plant.
And a leading member of Saint Stanislaus Parish,
Many years President of the Saint Stanislaus Society,
Credited at times with influence I did not have.
Marianna and I raised a brood at Fifth and Mankato,
Each one dearly loved, if not always understood,
From our oldest girls, Anna and Franciszka, to
Our oldest boys, Dominik, Joseph, and Alfred,
Who merely founded Peerless Chain Company
Just before the World War, to
Lambert and poor Chester.
Your mother and I tried so hard to "fix" you, Chester,
Thinking that you should be more like your brothers.
All you did in return was nurse me for years
Through my senility and ill health, never
Offering a single word of complaint, despite
Toiling as tool room foreman at Peerless Chain.
I lived long. I worked hard. I achieved much.
But I learned all too late what a great achievement you were.
Please forgive me.