By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
If the size of a man’s heart is measured by how many love him, then John Urbaniak’s was always ready to burst.
Urbaniak and his wife, Lorraine, were such favorites in their large Polish Catholic families, they found themselves godparents for many of their young relatives.
Each had more godchildren than anyone else in their respective families — close to 20.
“The kindness, the love he displayed for children — so many people chose him for godfather when they were having babies,” said niece and goddaughter Jeanne Pawlik Schulman. “She was the favorite aunt in her family, and he was the favorite uncle, and then they got together.”
Mr. Urbaniak, who lived in Alsip and Blue Island, died Jan. 22 at age 88. He had Parkinson’s disease.
Born Jan. 20, 1917, he was the second oldest of five children who grew up in Chicago’s Placerdale neighborhood around West 117th and South Morgan streets.
He attended the Polish-speaking grammar school Assumption BVM, and after high school, he joined the Army and served during World War II.
In 1968, he married Lorraine Wierzycki, a girl who grew up just a block away.
The pair never had children of their own, but they loved their godchildren like their own, Schulman said.
“Uncle John always made time for the kids, always took us out,” Schulman said. “He always bought me a winter coat.
“Anytime we were sick, he would run to Lloyd’s pharmacy at 123rd and Parnell for our medicine, and he always bought me Charms lollipops,” she said.
It was easy to spend time together when the family home housed grandparents, aunts and uncles on the first floor, and Schulman’s family on the second, she said.Like many from his generation, Mr. Urbaniak took a job with International Harvester as a young man and stayed with the company until he was ready to retire, nephew John Pawlik said.
There, he was in charge of the tool crib, where he kept watch over tools so expensive they were kept under lock and key behind a metal fence, Pawlik said. He would take inventory of the tools and dole them out to workers as needed.
But you’d never know he held such a responsibility, his niece and nephew said.
“You know about the squeaking wheel, always getting the grease — Uncle John wasn’t a squeaky wheel,” Pawlik said. “He was very modest.”
Schulman said when she’d ask her uncle what he did at work, he would reply that he read the newspaper.
In fact, she said, he read four daily newspapers, including the Southtown and its predecessor, the Southtown Economist.
He was an excellent golfer, Pawlik said, although he referred to himself as a “duffer” out of humility.
“His nickname from his golfing buddies was Tommy Armour, who was a famous pro golfer when uncle was young,” Pawlik explained, more or less the equivalent of Tiger Woods. He would play at all of the area golf courses as much as he could.
And he was a devout Catholic. He was active at Assumption BVM Church and later at St. Isidore the Farmer Church in Blue Island, where he was an usher and a regular helper on bingo night.
“He was absolutely a man among men,” Schulman said, “the kindest man I have ever known.”
Mr. Urbaniak also is survived by his wife, Lorraine; his sister Rose Muskievicz; and many nieces, nephews and godchildren.
Arrangements were by Hallinan Funeral Home in Blue Island, (708) 385-0850.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
