Aleksandra Lipecki passed away peacefully in her sleep on Aug. 6 at the age of 98.
Mrs. Lipecki was born on May 25, 1925, in the free city state of Gdansk, Poland, to Bonifacy Langowski and Bronislawa Kamrowska Langowska. She was the youngest of four siblings, with two brothers and a sister, Henry, Joe, and Mary.
As a child she enjoyed swimming in the Baltic Sea, playing piano, and playing with her older cousin, Zosia, at their country home, Rozana. She learned the freedom and responsibility of driving a car from her mother, who drove the family and did basic maintenance on the Adler Trumpf. Those in her family were members of the Polish Szlachta or upper class and lived with comfort, but also had to uphold certain appearances. So, while her mother could drive and work on the family car, Mrs. Lipecki was not allowed to learn how to ride a bike, because it was not considered ladylike.
On Sept. 1, 1939, the German military invaded Poland, and her idyllic life changed forever. Mrs. Lipecki was 15 when World War II began. Her father was the district attorney in Gdansk and had previously helped to draft the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.
He was captured by German SS officers, taken to the Stutthof camp, and executed in the first year of the war. Mrs. Lipecki spent the war in and out of work camps with her mother and sister, eventually being moved from Poland to the western part of Germany. Her brother Henry fought with the Resistance, was captured and died in a Nazi prison shortly before the end of the war. Her brother Joe also fought with the Resistance but evaded capture and emigrated to the United States.
Following the end of World War II, Mrs. Lipecki was in a refugee camp in Stuttgart, Germany, when she met the love of her life, Edmund Lipecki. Her sister had married an American intelligence officer and was able to help find Mr. and Mrs. Lipecki sponsorship to resettle in the United States.
As a new immigrant, Mrs. Lipecki had many jobs, first working in a glove factory, as a housekeeper, and then as a clerk for an insurance company.
In 1958, Mr. and Mrs. Lipecki welcomed their only daughter, Yvonne Lipecki Hosey, to the world in New York City.
The family spent the next years moving between New Jersey, Atlanta, and Florida, before finally settling in Atlanta in the 1970s.
In 1998, following the death of her husband, Mrs. Lipecki moved to Knoxville to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
Mrs. Lipecki loved dachshunds, traveling, Chopin, the color red, making Polish treats, keeping traditions, and sharing stories and treasured photos from her years in Poland.
Through the age of 97, she meticulously balanced her checkbook, wrote e-mails to family across the globe, and would banter about the state of the world. She spoke three languages fluently: Polish, English, and German.
During a family trip through Germany to Poland, Germans kept complimenting her formal German speech. Her family asked why she never spoke German in the United States and her reply was, “You can forgive, but you never forget.”
She was a beloved member of the International Friends Club of Tennessee and Immaculate Conception Parish in Knoxville.
Mrs. Lipecki will be missed and remembered by her daughter, Yvonne, son-in-law, Kevin, and grandchildren, Eamon and Olivia Hosey, as well as family members and friends.
A memorial Mass and reception will be held in her honor at Immaculate Conception Church on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 2 p.m. All are welcome.
Mrs. Lipecki will be laid to rest alongside her dear relatives at the Polish National Cemetery in Doylestown, Pa.
Donations in Mrs. Lipecki’s memory can be made to Much Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit organization her granddaughter works for, at muchministries.org, or donations may be mailed to:
Much Ministries
P.O. Box 24599,
Saint Simons Island, GA 31522.
