| Eulogy Delivered at the Funeral of Adam
Dró¿d¿ on January 5, 2010 |
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| Adam Stanis³aw Dró¿d¿ was born on December 15, 1920 in Go³onóg, Poland, and he spent his whole life there. He simply loved Go³onóg. He knew its every corner and many of its inhabitants and used this knowledge to write an extensive and detailed history of Go³onóg, and the history of his immediate and not so immediate family, "Family Chronicle." Adam spent several years gathering information through interviews with family elders, and eagerly collecting other necessary materials, prior to writing. With the very kind help of his godson, this wonderful chronicle was published, and many family members were grateful to be able to receive a copy of it. Adam was already over eighty when he mastered the use of a computer, and learned how to create web pages. With his new skills he started working on “Our Go³onóg”, a website dedicated to Go³onóg, which still exists (see naszgolonog.net) and has many visitors. There, he published an even more detailed history of Go³onóg, based on many different sources and numerous illustrations. Many of the pictures on the website were taken by Adam himself. In fact, he climbed to the very top of the tower of the church of St. Anthony three times in his life to take panoramic pictures of Go³onóg and its surrounding areas, and to document the changes. At eighty years old he made his final journey to the top of the tower where he took his beloved pictures for the last time. Adam was also an admirer of the Kraków-Czêstochowa Jurassic Highland, a place he frequently took his family and friends during the weekends. He was also very fond of the Beskidy Mountains, where for many years he used to spend very active vacations with his family. He was very happily married twice. His first wife, Daniela, was a very popular photographer in Go³onóg. She took pictures of the people in Golonóg for 43 years until her death. Her pictures documented baptisms, first communions, weddings, funerals, and many other memorable occasions. Adam Dró¿d¿ helped his wife in this as much as he could. Several years after Daniela passed away, in 1993, he was happily married to Eugenia, who, like Daniela, is a very well known and well thought of person in Go³onóg. For many years Eugenia worked in different parts of our village bringing its people their mail. In his lifetime, Adam Dró¿d¿ was a model husband, father and grandfather, and also a much loved uncle. As a young father he devoted all his free time to his children, and also to other children in the family and the children of the neighbors, for whom he always organized interesting activities. And, until his illness made it impossible, he very thoughtfully took care of his son, who because of his disability is confined to a wheelchair. As an eternal optimist, Adam always paid attention to the positive nature in every situation. He was very honest and good hearted, and had a great sense of humor. He constantly examined his conduct, and tried to change himself for the better. He followed a principle that one cannot go to bed at night with anger in one’s heart, or holding a grudge against anyone. If there were any misunderstandings or insinuations in the family, he made sure that he apologized to everybody, and that nobody was angry before he went to bed. Adam had a great will to live. Six years ago he was broken by an illness – a severe stroke. His doctors gave him little chance of survival. Soon after that he had another stroke. Thanks to God’s Grace, the loving care of his wife and often his cousin, good and kind doctors, and an excellent physical therapist, he survived. Though he was partially paralyzed and in a wheel chair, he did not lose his sense of humor and his optimism. He could no longer read by himself, but he loved to listen to the classical literature on tapes, and he used to often go in his wheelchair with his wife to the library to select new tapes for himself. He loved to listen to Kraszewski’s books. One of his doctors used to say that the medicine pales in comparison to the patient’s will to live. Throughout his life Adam Dró¿d¿ loved to learn new things and visit new places. He travelled to the southern part of the United States five times to visit his daughter, and every time he chose a different route so he could change flights in a different country and at a different city to see something new. We could talk about Adam’s active life for a long time and also about his work, volunteering, and his service to Go³onóg, but in the end we would just like to read an introduction to his “Family Chronicle”. It is a short text, which Adam wrote himself in the mid 1990s. These are his own words:
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