Rose Lechowicz, 95, mother of Cook County Commissioner Ted Lechowicz, died Monday, Jan. 8, in St. Joseph Hospital after a long illness. Born in Chicago, Mrs. Lechowicz was a year old when her parents moved the family to a town near Krakow, Poland. While there, her father became an artillery officer in the Polish Army and was captured during World War I and imprisoned in a POW camp in Italy. Later during the war, Mrs. Lechowicz’s mother was killed when German forces invaded the region where the Lechowicz family was living. She was 10 years old when she had to raise herself and her 8-year-old sister, Wanda. “She was a very determined woman,” said her son. “She was very religious. She never started a day without prayer.” Mrs. Lechowicz was in her late teens when she returned to Chicago during the Depression, landing a job as a cook at the Goldblatt’s Department Store restaurant. Mrs. Lechowicz met her husband at the store, and the two settled in the city’s Cragin neighborhood. Mrs. Lechowicz was active in the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and the Polish National Alliance. Other survivors include two grandchildren. Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Friday in St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Catholic Church, 5352 W. Belden Ave., Chicago.
