Vera S. Szerszen

With deep sorrow we announce the passing of our Mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Wera Stefania Szerszen (nee Kadajska). Her life was a testament to faith and perseverance in the face of adversity, which she braved with characteristic optimism and charm. She was born in Southeastern Poland, near the city of Lwow (now Ukraine) in 1924, daughter of Ambrozy Kadajski and Joanna Kadajska. As a teenager, she lived through the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany on September 1 of 1939, and then Soviet Russia on September 17, 1939. During the war she experienced the disappearance, deportation to Siberia or death in combat of nearly half of her family, herself being arrested and interrogated by the Russian secret police the NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB).

After World War II, she and the remaining members of her family attempted to rebuild their lives, while navigating the persecutions of the Soviet-imposed communist government. Wera was a gifted writer, and graduated from the University of Warsaw with a Masters Degree in Journalism with high honors and became a reporter. In 1951, during a reporting assignment on the raising of the sunk German WWII battlecruiser Gneisenau, she charmed her way into becoming the first woman in Poland to perform a deep see dive. Despite this and other journalistic successes she was pressured to join the Communist Party, which she refused to do and was dismissed from jobs. Eventually, she was permitted to work in the monthly magazine “Dzialkowiec” (The Gardner), raising to the position of Deputy Editor and building quite a following among the magazine’s readers all over Poland. Yet, her greatest source of joy was her family; husband Wlodzimierz, daughter Tadea and son, Pawel.

Like many Poles, she longed for her children to escape to the US to grow up in freedom, without censorship, religious persecution, political indoctrination and where merit not party membership is the determinant of success. Tadea was able to leave for the US earlier, eventually arriving in France where she and her family live today. In 1978, Wera, Wlodzimierz and Pawel, due to a rather miraculous series of events, were able to leave for the USA. They built a new life in Spokane, WA, centered around Gonzaga University, where Wera and Wlodzimierz worked for a period and Pawel attended College. They moved to Arlington, VA in 1991, after Pawel was hired by SAIC. Among her other pursuits there, she joined the Bord of Directors and became a Vice President of the Polish American Congress, Washington, DC Metropolitan Area Division (PAC-WAMD). In 2002, Wera’s beloved husband Wlodzimerz passed away. She did not re-marry.

Despite the challenges she faced, she lived with an attitude of gratitude rooted in her faith in the intersession of the Virgin Mary and best captured in an often-repeated phrase “if it wasn’t

for the Blessed Mother I wouldn’t be here.” This attitude extended into a love of people and continued attempts to share her good fortune with everyone she met.

She died peacefully on June 5 surrounded by loving family, 30 minutes after receiving the anointing of the sick, and the last rights, including Holy Communion.

She is survived by daughter Tadea (Joel), son Pawel (Lidiya), grandchildren, Gaia (Icham), Christina, John Paul, Catherine, and Magdalena, and great grandchildren Aidaan and Shai. She leaves a great void in our hearts, but we are comforted that in the Lord’s time we have gained an intercessor in heaven.