NAUGATUCK — It is with great sadness that we let everyone know of the loss of our most beautiful mother and best friend who left us on Nov. 1, 2021. Mom must have chosen this day because it was All Saints Day and she was extremely religious.
Mom wanted nothing more than to live, be with her family, and enjoy each and every moment here with us. Mom loved God more than anyone we know and she loved each and every person in her life as if God sent them to her. The love she gave to her husband and six children was not an average love. It was a love that was the strongest kind of love. When mom hugged us she sent her heart right through her arms into your soul. When mom kissed us you felt a tenderness and warmth you will remember forever. When we tell you she was not your average mother, we mean it. She was ever caring, ever loving, ever generous, and would give you anything you needed instead of taking it for herself. She believed in helping others even when she had nothing.
Marianna was born in Kuzie, Poland, on Jan. 25, 1924. She was the daughter of Piotr and Katarzyna Gadomski. Her sister, Janina (Gadomski) Sadlowski; her brother, Czeslaw Gadomski and his wife, Jadwiga, had all predeceased her. She loved her siblings with all her heart as she loved her sister-in-law and all of the Gadomski nephews and nieces in Kuzie. She was also at a great loss to lose her most beloved sister, Janina, at age 66 unexpectedly.
Mom survived WWII in Poland. The war started when she was 15 years old. After the war, she married the love of her life, Stanislaw Pianka, and the two families became as one.
Marianna lost her husband, Stanislaw Pianka, when she was just 64 years old. She loved her husband so very much. They had everything in common and their belief in God was their strongest. They knelt together in prayer every day, at their bedside, together and with their children, praying aloud for each and every one of us. They took pride in their children and loved each one equally. Five sons from oldest to youngest, Marian (Mike) Pianka and wife Heidi, Thaddeus Pianka and partner Bozena, John Pianka, Richard Pianka, Kevin Pianka, and one daughter, Elizabeth (Pianka) May and her husband, Richard May, with whom mom lived with for the past four years. Richard and I were beyond honored to spend each and every day smiling, hugging, praying, singing, and kissing mom’s beautiful face. Mom loved her son-in-law, Richard, like a sixth son. Just like Jesus she always said “Love one another. Be kind to each other.”
Marianna was also a very proud and loving grandmother of Elisa (Pianka) Palumbo and wife Nikki, Michael Pianka, Lindsay Pianka, Steven Woodfield, and Sarah Doyle. She was ever so loving and proud of each and every one of them. When babci hugged you, it’s a hug you will always remember and cherish. When babci smiled, it lit up your heart.
Marianna and her husband, Stanislaw, came from Poland to Naugatuck, where her sister, Jean, lived, in 1964 with four boys, a fifth on the way, and three suitcases of belongings. Soon after Stanislaw’s sister, also named Marianna, and her daughter, Czeslawa (Pianka) Zajac, made the move to Naugatuck from Poland. She loved Czeslawa like a daughter and Czeslawa’s husband, Stanislaw Zajac (predeceased her), along with their sons, Marek and Edward Zajac. Our mother, father and family were at the ground breaking ceremony of their beloved church parish St. Hedwig’s in Naugatuck. Where we also went to school.
They cherished each Polish and American church service, which followed their religious traditions and considered every person there family. Mom was a member of the Rosary Society and Ladies Guild for over 55 years. She was an avid Bingo player at St. Hedwig’s, St. Francis, VFW, Elks Club and the Naugatuck Senior Center. She loved being around people. She always said, “I like happy people!”
Mom also worked 21 years at the Eastern Company (where Big Y is now) as a steel worker. Dad worked at Naugatuck Glass Company. They worked two different shifts so that they could care for their children and buy a house. Many times they passed each other on the sidewalk, stopped to kiss each other, on the way to and from work. Each Sunday was church and family day. These were the happiest of days when mom invited many family and friends to share love, laughter and joy at the kitchen table. Mom’s home was a home to all. The more the merrier. Everyone was always welcome. We will miss our beautiful mother and are devastated at her loss. Being elderly doesn’t make it easier. Mom was always young at heart and spirit. She never acted or looked her age. Please remember her and pray for her as she would have for all of you. God bless our beautiful mother, Marianna, as she joins God, her husband, family and all of the saints in heaven. She is ever so deserving.
Her funeral will be on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, at 10 a.m. from the Naugatuck Valley Memorial/Fitzgerald-Zembruski Funeral Home, 240 North Main St., Naugatuck, to St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1006 New Haven Road, for a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in St. James Cemetery. Calling hours will be Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Members of St. Hedwig’s Ladies Guild will meet on Thursday at 3 p.m.
To send an online condolence, visit naugatuckvalleymemorial.com.
