Stanley Krawczyk
Stanley Krawczyk passed away at his home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan on November 15, 2023, at the age of 93.
Stanley was born on October 14, 1930, to Adam and Mary Krawczyk in Charlotte, Michigan. He worked on the family farm and went to a county school, having to drop out of school in ninth grade to help take care of the farm. He met his future wife, Elaine Zimmerman when he was 15. They got married February 1, 1950, at Elaine’s home.
Stanley joined the Navy on October 27, 1947, at the age of 17. He had a long career in the Navy retiring after 22 years. In those 22 years he saw combat in Korea aboard the USS Hyman fighting the North Koreans and the Chinese. The ship was hit, but thankfully did not get a lot of damage. He did lose one of his friends while on the ship in Korea. Many years later he was part of a group of veterans from the Hyman who raised money to put up a memorial monument in New Castle, Indiana for the men lost over the years. In 1948 he also saw combat in one of the many wars between Israel and Palestine.
In 1952 he was an instructor at the Machinist Mate Class A School in Great Lakes, Illinois teaching steam engineering. There were lots of moves during his career including Great Lakes, Illinois; Newport, Rhode Island; Groton, Connecticut for submarine and nuclear power school. He was assigned to the USS Jefferson which was under construction at that time. The boat did many tours to Holy Loc, Scotland, doing testing when they were out to sea. Stanley was also in Norfolk, Virginia; Long Beach, California; and two years in the Nea Makri, Greece which the family loved. During his career he served on the USS Hyman, which was a destroyer; the USS Forestal, which was an aircraft carrier; and two nuclear powered submarines, the USS Skate and the USS Thomas Jefferson.
On the personal front, after he and Elaine got married, they had three children – two daughters and a son. The family enjoyed the traveling, especially the two years spent in Greece where they had all kinds of new experiences – including camping on a trip to northern Greece to see Mount Olympus, swimming in Marathon Bay and taking a cruise to visit many of the Greek islands. Stanley and Elaine took a cruise from Greece back to the United States after he was transferred. There were many trips between wherever Stanley was stationed to visit Eaton Rapids to see family and friends and spend time in the town that he considered home.
Stanley retired from the Navy in 1970 and the family moved back to Eaton Rapids where Stanley built a home on Kemler Road. He went to work for the Michigan DNR for ten years, and then retired from the DNR. He also worked for BASF for several years in Michigan. After retiring from the DNR, he and Elaine moved to Oakland, California where Stanley worked for the Military Sealift Command. After Elaine passed away from cancer in 1988 Stanley remained in California where he then worked for the Federal Aviation Agency working on long distance communication between controllers and airplanes. In 2002 Stanley did an interview for the Veterans History program that is in the Library of Congress, talking about his career. For anyone that would like to hear it, just go to the Library of Congress and type in his name or go to this link: https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.41528/? .
In 1993 Stanley retired for the last time. He built another house on Kemler Road (next to the first one he built) where he lived until his passing. He met Barbara Woodley in 1999 and they got married in 2000. He gained four stepchildren and four grandchildren whom he loved very much. He and Barbara lived happily until she passed away in February 2013.
Stanley had many things that he enjoyed doing. He loved gardening and did lots of canning with his garden vegetables. He enjoyed doing anything outside. He obviously loved building – he remodeled almost every place his family lived in, including a mobile home! He collected coins for most of his life and would spend time looking and doing research on any coins he got from anyone. He also enjoyed winemaking using the grapes he grew on his property. When he was younger, he hunted with his brothers. And for many years he and some of his brothers and friends went to Canada every year to fish. His last fishing trip to Canada was in 2017. His grandson Robert and great-grandson Ethan were lucky enough to go on that trip with Stanley. It’s a memory that they both cherish. He was a long-time member of the Calvary Lutheran Church in Eaton Rapids – even helped build the new church on Plains Road after the stone church became too small for the church’s needs.
The family would like to thank Holt Senior Care and Rehab, McLaren Hospice and Landmark Home Care for taking such good care of dad at the end of his life. They also would like to thank the wonderful staff at Eaton Rapids Medical Center for all the years of care that they gave to Stanley.
Stanley was predeceased by his wife Elaine (Zimmerman); his wife Barbara Woodley; daughter Kathleen Hendrickson; son Stanley L. Krawczyk; niece Lorelyn (Zimmerman) Adams; granddaughter Stacy Hildner; grandson Sean Vankranenburg; stepdaughter Karen Thompson; parents Adam and Mary Krawczyk; and eight brothers and sisters.
He is survived by his daughter Diane (Craig) Galloway; stepchildren Linda Brockway, Diane Woodley and Kevin Woodley. Grandchildren Deanna (John) Cornell; Robert (Amanda) Young; Aisha (Eric) Ray; Luke Krawczyk; Derek (Kayla) Krawczyk; and Kyle Krawczyk. Step grandchildren Tana (Beau) Vanderwater; Kayla (Toma) Thompson; Cameron Thompson and Ian Thompson. Great-grandchildren Ethan, Aoife and Conrad Young; Erica and Darian Ray; Hannah and Halie Krawczyk; Derrick and Wren Krawczyk; Lucien Krawczyk; and Ariella Vankranenburg. He is also survived by his sister Mary (Rhon) Pierce and his brother Adam Krawczyk, and many other family members.
Stanley was loved and respected by everyone that met him. He was a hero to many and there will be a huge hole in the hearts of everyone that loved him.
In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations to the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight program which Stanley was able to go on. Here is the link: https://www.midmichiganhonorflight.org/donate.