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A legacy of Polish Americans in Greater Hazleton has been preserved for another generation now that the Luzerne Foundation agreed to continue awarding the Father Louis S. Garbacik Memorial Scholarship.
In essence, the scholarship is a tribute to two men: the priest for whom it is named and his friend and parishioner, who started the fund, Thomas Kopetskie Sr.
The two men visited Poland together and but also elevated their Polish heritage individually.
Garbacik, as pastor of St. Stanislaus R.C. Church in Hazleton, slipped Polish sayings into his speech. An avid baker, he made pierogies with parishioners in the church kitchen. He was pastor in 1993 when St. Stanislaus celebrated its 100th anniversary by paying off debt and publishing a Polish cookbook.
At Christmas time in 2009, Garbacik was clearing snow from the church steps when he slipped, struck his head and never regained consciousness before dying on New Year’s Day. He was 81 and had been a priest 55 years.
Kopetskie, who had formed the Greater Hazleton Polonaise Society in 1977 that holds picnics, a Paczkowy Ball or donut dance at Mardi Gras and a traditional dinner, Wigilia, before Christmas, wanted to honor Garbacik with a scholarship.
Attorney Daniel Miscavige and certified public accountant John Nonnemacher helped Kopetskie create a nonprofit entity so gifts to the scholarship fund were tax deductible.
“We both offered our services at no charge because of our fondness for Father Garbacik and we were also found of Tom Kopetskie,” Nonnemacher said.
Scholarships went to seniors at Hazleton Area and Marian Catholic high schools based on the grades and community involvement, but students also had to write essays on their family heritage and great people from Polish history.
The first awards were given in 2012, and Kopetskie continued presenting scholarships through this year when he died in July at 95.
“As far as I can see through dad’s records — he had boxes and boxes — we figure 78 students and a total amount of $99,000,” said Thomas Kopetskie Jr., summing up the scholarship that his father wanted him to continue, a difficult assignment because the son never lived in Hazleton.
“He moved to Hazleton when I was in college, so I don’t have roots there,” said the younger Kopetskie who lives in York County and is a retired teacher and assistant school superintendent.
Miscavige and Nonnemacher helped direct him the Luzerne Foundation, which administers 85 scholarships from throughout the region and agreed to take over the Garbacik Scholarship.
“This was a gift from Heaven,” said Kopetskie, who knows the scholarship will continue as his father wanted.
Criteria will remain about the same, although students will only have to write one essay about a luminary in Polish history instead of two.
A panel from the foundation will read the essays and applications and chose winners.
“They will do their best to Google pierogies and halushki so that we can keep the spirit of Father Garbacik alive,” Luzerne Foundation CEO David Pedri said. “Being from Hazleton, I know the man’s reputation. We’re going to keep his legacy alive.”
In late February or early March, details about how to apply for the Father Garbacik Scholarship will be posted on the foundation’s website. The foundation lists scholarships by school.
Pedri encourages students to apply for all for which they qualify. “In the face of college costs, I know that every little bit helps,” he said.
Andy Obrzut Jr., a former advertising representative for the Standard-Speaker won a Father Garbacik scholarship in the first year of the awards. He remembers that the money went directly to Penn State University where he attended. Now his family carries on Polish traditions handed and bakes holiday foods with recipes from his great-grandparents.
“We remember where we came from,” said Obrzut, adding that the recipes come in handy now that he and his family have moved to Cookeville, Tennessee.
“The churches don’t sell pierogies or nut and poppy (bread.) You have to bake your own,”Obrzut said, “Or have friends send some.”
People can continue to send tax-exempt donations to the Father Louis S. Garbacik Memorial Scholarship Foundation, c/o the Luzerne Foundation, 34 S. River Street, Wilkes Barre, PA, 18702.
Nonnemacher said he and his wife, Sandy, contribute to the scholarship fund. One of their sons, Christian, who attended Penn State Hazleton and now is a reference librarian at Hazleton Area Public Library, is a former recipient, said Nonnemacher, who seconds Pedri’s advice by telling students to apply.
“Where else can you make $1,000 an hour? because that’s how long it’s going to take you to write an essay,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Polonaise Society is carrying on as Tom Kopetskie Sr. would have wanted.
“His first love was family. His second love was that Polonaise Society … He would go to Eckley, go anywhere to display information about the miners, how the Polish came over, what they did here,” Cheryl Sabol, who become a member three year ago, said.
Now that she is taking more of a leadership role in the society, she is reaching out to Polish American journals and cultural groups in Buffalo and Philadelphia and starting to realize how well know Kopetskie was.
“When I say his name it’s ‘Oh, I remember Tom,’ ” Sabol said.
The Greater Hazleton Polonaise Society plans to keep holding events next year like the Paczkowy Ball tentatively set for March 4, a celebration of Polish Constitution Day, which is May 3, although the group plans a gathering on May 6, and a picnic on July 15 at Tweedle Park in Weatherly.
This Christmas time, the Wigilia will be at Sand Springs Country Club on Dec. 15.
Paulette DeBella of Mountain Top will sign copies of a book she wrote about the holy supper, “The Tiniest Angel’s Gift.”
Sabol said Polonaise members hope to renew ties with residents of a sister city in Poland. They have been studying the Polish language, learning crafts like Pysanky egg decorating, and this Easter will try baking and decorating cakes molded like lambs.
The society also awards a scholarship of its own to children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of members. As members aged, the scholarships went unfilled some years, but Sabol said that’s changing, too.
“Honestly, when I joined there were hardly any members, maybe 20,” she said. “I have a lot of family and started bringing them in, and they asked their friends. Before you know it, I think we have 60 members.”
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