June 20, 2004
Volunteer takes pride in teaching Polish customs

Catholic New World staff writer Michelle Martin talks with Joann Ozog.

Joann Ozog, the “First Lady of Polonia,” was born to the children of Polish immigrants and raised in Michigan, without much involvement in Polish organizations and cultural activities. That all changed when she married her husband, Wallace, who was active in several Polish groups. She began learning about Polish culture so that she could pass it along to their three sons and other children. Ozog moved to Chicago in 1999, when her husband became president of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, and since then, has devoted full-time volunteer efforts to promoting Polish culture and tradition at the Polish Museum of America, the oldest ethnic heritage museum in the United States.

Her efforts were recognized with a 2004 Jefferson Award from NBC-Channel 5.

 

The Catholic New World: How well known was the museum when you began working here?

Joann Ozog: When I first got here, I would mention the museum, and the reaction I got was “What’s that? Where is it?” We sent out over 20,000 letters that first year, and even if the people did not respond to becoming a member, at least they became aware of the Polish Museum. To me, that was important.

 

TCNW: Why is it important to preserve these customs and traditions?

JO: The Polish people have many beautiful traditions and customs just like any other nationality. If we do not preserve these customs and traditions from the past, then what do the present generation and future generations have to look for? We are really preserving this for our youth, for the future. If we don’t preserve these things, they will be lost.

That’s why I have the art contests. If our children don’t know about the topic, then they have to go look it up.

Children are very creative, and it’s important that they know that the Polish people do have a special way of doing egg decoration, called pisanki. It’s important for them to know what wysinanki (paper cutting art) is—it’s bad enough they probably can’t pronounce it, let alone know what it is. This is part of their heritage, and if we don’t preserve it, show it to them, tell it to them, then they won’t know what their heritage is.

 

TCNW: Did your parents do this for you?

JO: Not really. My parents really weren’t involved in Polish organizations very much. When I married my husband, he was very active in the Polish Roman Catholic Union, and I became a member, and we started the (Polish) society in Michigan, which is celebrating 25 years. With that, there was a dance school. At the dance school, I would bring in Polish culture for the children, and I started the Polish Heritage Month art contest. That’s how I started.

 

TCNW: So did you have to go to the library and look things up too?

JO: Yes. Even for Christmas Eve, which is the wygilia meal, my mother would have meat, and it wasn’t until I married my husband that I experienced the meatless wygilia. My mother-in-law had the fish, the pierogi and so on.

 

TCNW: It seems like a lot of these traditions are based around religious celebrations. What role does faith play?

JO: My experience since I moved to Chicago—Chicago has the largest population of Polish people (in the United States). We belong to Sts. Cyril & Methodius in Lemont, and there was a retreat there one time, and the whole church was full. For holy days, the whole church is full. Polish people, they have faith, and this faith is carried on to their children. You see a lot of the young people going to church. It was different in Michigan—for a holy day, the church is empty. But for the Polish people, those who have immigrated from Poland, they have a deep faith, and they pass this deep faith on to their children. Since I moved to Chicago, that is one of the things that really touched me, especially all the young adults going to church.

 

TCNW: Chicago is a port of entry for Polish immigrants. How does having an influx of native Poles make the Polish community here different?

JO: One thing is, I don’t speak Polish. The Polish people here are always speaking Polish. There are so many more Polish language schools here. The Polish people here, they’ve come here, but they still want to keep their language, they still want to keep their customs, they still want to keep their traditions. Even the young children often speak Polish.

 

TCNW: What’s your favorite thing to teach people?

JO: I don’t teach; I just coordinate these programs. But I think they’re all my favorite in the sense that when people come to these workshops, especially the seniors, they come and say, “I can’t do that.” But they come and they sit here for an hour, and they don’t become bored. They become more interested in what they’re doing, and then, as far as the finished product goes, they’re filled with joy: “Look what I did! I can’t believe it.” I think that’s what makes me happy, to see other people happy, saying “I can do that.”

 

The Polish Museum of America is at 984 N. Milwaukee Ave. For information, call (773) 384-3352 or visit pma.prcua.org on the Web. The museum will host is annual “Summer Ball” June 25 at European Crystal Banquets in Arlington Heights June 25. For more information about the ball, call Shirley at (773) 763-4069 or Maria at (773) 774-8951.

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