|
|
|
Dorothy Bolte, Agnes Ryczek and Joyce Niyazi were among those attending one of the liveliest New Year’s Eve parties in Pittsburg, celebrating the arrival of 2011 with their fellow residents of Knights of Columbus Towers.
But they took a few minutes away from the hors d’ oeuvres and sparkling grape juice to visit about some of the interesting years they’ve already seen.
Bolte, at 93, has seen the most.
“I think I’m the oldest one in the building,” she said. “I lived down on South Broadway until the Knights of Columbus finished the building. When I signed up there were only five people on the fifth floor, so I chose my apartment number and I’ve been there since.”
Bolte remembers the building’s first manager, Howard Wilbert, and his wife, Irene.
“He was just precious, but we only had him seven years,” she said. “After Howard died, we had Ken and Jean Burbach, and now we have Steve Hicks, and he’s precious.”
Bolte was born on Christmas Eve at Sherwin, a railroad stop in Cherokee County. She has vivid memories of hard times during the Great Depression.
“That Depression was something else,” she said. “People today don’t realize how bad it was. My father was a railroad man. My poor old mama canned everything she could get her hands on, and so did everybody else. If you went to the store and bought a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk you thought you were doing good.”
Her family later moved to Missouri.
“I’ve lived at a lot of places, including St. Petersburg, Fla., which is where I should be now because of the cold,” Bolte said. “I came back to Pittsburg after my husband died.”
The year 2010 brought more sorrow when her son, Michael, who lived in Mobile, Ala., died on Nov. 6.
“My other son, Richard, lives in Mississippi and is an evangelist,” Bolte said. “He travels all over.”
Agnes Ryczek is a self-proclaimed old maid.
“I’ve got a good Polish name,” she said. “I tried all my life to change it, but never could. I tried to find a man named Smith, but I never did.”
She had a long career in nursing, specializing in anesthesiology.
“I trained in Washington, D.C., and I stood on the steps of the Capitol and heard them proclaim World War II,” Ryczek said.
Dorothy Bolte, Agnes Ryczek and Joyce Niyazi were among those attending one of the liveliest New Year’s Eve parties in Pittsburg, celebrating the arrival of 2011 with their fellow residents of Knights of Columbus Towers.
But they took a few minutes away from the hors d’ oeuvres and sparkling grape juice to visit about some of the interesting years they’ve already seen.
Bolte, at 93, has seen the most.
“I think I’m the oldest one in the building,” she said. “I lived down on South Broadway until the Knights of Columbus finished the building. When I signed up there were only five people on the fifth floor, so I chose my apartment number and I’ve been there since.”
Bolte remembers the building’s first manager, Howard Wilbert, and his wife, Irene.
“He was just precious, but we only had him seven years,” she said. “After Howard died, we had Ken and Jean Burbach, and now we have Steve Hicks, and he’s precious.”
Bolte was born on Christmas Eve at Sherwin, a railroad stop in Cherokee County. She has vivid memories of hard times during the Great Depression.
“That Depression was something else,” she said. “People today don’t realize how bad it was. My father was a railroad man. My poor old mama canned everything she could get her hands on, and so did everybody else. If you went to the store and bought a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk you thought you were doing good.”
Her family later moved to Missouri.
“I’ve lived at a lot of places, including St. Petersburg, Fla., which is where I should be now because of the cold,” Bolte said. “I came back to Pittsburg after my husband died.”
The year 2010 brought more sorrow when her son, Michael, who lived in Mobile, Ala., died on Nov. 6.
“My other son, Richard, lives in Mississippi and is an evangelist,” Bolte said. “He travels all over.”
Agnes Ryczek is a self-proclaimed old maid.
“I’ve got a good Polish name,” she said. “I tried all my life to change it, but never could. I tried to find a man named Smith, but I never did.”
She had a long career in nursing, specializing in anesthesiology.
“I trained in Washington, D.C., and I stood on the steps of the Capitol and heard them proclaim World War II,” Ryczek said.
She was a U.S. Navy nurse, caring for injured men at a naval hospital in California.
“I fought in the Battle of Corona Corona,” Ryczek said. “Corona, Calif., that is. Most of the patients were men coming back from Iwo Jima. The ones I remember the most were the ones that I heard crying when I was walking in the halls at night.”
She continued as a nurse in civilian life in many places.
“I was able to get a job in about any place I walked in,” Ryczek said. “I spent two years in Africa with the Peace Corps and a year in Quebec. I’m an old maid, and that’s how I was able to go all that.”
She also worked in Pittsburg.
“I helped them move patients from the old Mt. Carmel Hospital to the new Mt. Carmel,” Ryczek said. “I rode with a mother and carried her new baby. I retired in Pittsburg, and like it very much. I’m glad I did.”
Joyce Niyazi is the youngest of the group. The seventh of 10 children, she was raised in Kansas City.
“There are only three of us left,” she said. “I have a brother, Don Cordray, in Peculiar, Mo.”
Niyazi worked as an alarm monitor, monitoring homes and businesses that had alarm systems.
“If something happened, I would called the police or the fire department,” she said. “Then I was a senior security officer for Sprint in Overland Park, and was responsible for five buildings. Sometimes I’d work 100 hours a week.”
Niyazi credits her former husband with being her inspiration to have a successful career.
“Without him encouraging me, I never would have done this,” she said.
She has been at Knights of Columbus Towers for three years, and likes it very much.
“We have dinners every third Thursday, and Steve Hicks and his wife Nancy are here,” Niyazi said. “Nancy will make the dessert, and sometimes she’ll fix the whole meal.”
“There are good people here, with a lot of history,” Ryczek said.
The women are facing 2011 with hope and faith.
“I started going to church with my friend, Linda Lewis, and took myself back to the Lord,” Niyazi said. “He’s done so much for me. I hope my brother will be here to see in 2012, and I hope my own health will be better in 2011. I’ve been in the hospital several times, and I was the first patient in the new Mt. Carmel Heart Center.”
“Without the sweet Lord we wouldn’t have anything,” Bolte said.
Ryczek has a simple wish for the new year.
“I just hope I survive it,” she said.
