Kaya Hanna Mirecka-Ploss, (Szeliga-Mirecka)
Polish cultural center executive, author
Born Sept. 12, 1928, Piekary Slaskie, Poland; came to U.S., 1966; daughter of Wiktor and Luiza (von Immisch).
Education: Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Warsaw (Poland), 1953; Ph.D., University of Heidelberg (Germany), 1958 [incorrect]; diploma, St. Martin School of Art, London (United Kingdom), 1963.
Career: executive director, American Council of Polish Culture (A.C.P.C.), Washington (DC), 1991 -.
Author: 3 books; 12 short stories; 1 play for stage; 3 screen plays for TV; numerous articles in United States and Poland.
Member of: national president, American Council of Polish Culture (A.C.P.C.); president, Polish - American Arts Association, Washington, 1985-88.
Affiliation: Democrat. Catholic.
Languages: Polish, English, German, French, Italian.
Hobby: skiing.
Home: 5205 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw
Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation,
New York, NY, 1996
Kaya Mirecka Ploss
American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) PRESIDENT, 1989 - 1993
THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE
The first Convention that I attended was held way back about 30 years ago. It was also the year that I became a member of the Polish American Arts Association here in Washington, D.C. I had just arrived from Poland - via marriage to Professor Sidney Ploss.
My husband, not being of Polish descent, understood that I missed Poland, the language, the people, the culture, and the art. Imagine how happy I was to discover the newly founded Polish American Arts Association. It was really an answer to my prayers, I had slowly worked myself to the top of that organization. I have been program director, membership chairman, and finally I served as PAAA President for three years.
My work then with Alfred Bochenek on the Norwid commemorative plaque took a lot of my time. It bore fruit much later, when I was already ACPC president. Those three years as President of the Washington Chapter and many years before that I served in the organization were the greatest training ground for when I became ACPC President. I recall those four years as ACPC President as the best in my life. I had a feeling that I could reach for the stars and that all of the members would be right behind me huffing and puffing and pushing me up.
I presided over many breathtaking events which were done for the first time; the unveiling of the Cyprian Norwid plaque at Harpers Ferry was a great moment. Present was the first Ambassador of a free Poland to Washington, His Excellency Kazimierz Dziewanowski. A very important decision which was made during my Presidency was to hold the ACPC Convention on the west coast in San Francisco for the first time.
I had the great privilege to be ACPC President when Poland once again became a free country. After it happened, it was the most natural thing to gather the most distinguished ACPC members and go to Poland. It truly was a sentimental journey. As we sat in the office of the first Minister of Art and Culture in a free Poland, Madame Izabella Cywinska, it was an unforgettable and enormously uplifting feeling. Minister Cywinska extended an invitation to ACPC to hold the 1991 Convention in Poland. I embraced this idea. What could be wiser than to bring our members to the source of the culture and art that we in the United States try to uphold. The technical side was rather difficult. Three times I had to travel to Poland. Once I was accompanied by the then second Vice President, Debbie Majka. We stayed a week. Debbie did a splendid job , and together the two of us did it. When a mass was held at the Pultusk Cathedral - marking the opening of the Convention - with Marysia Chrypinska and Walter Zachariasiewicz reading the "SLOWO BOZE", there was not a dry eye in the church audience.
During the convention it was decided that within the next three months we would have to purchase a building to house the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C. Being the national President and residing in Washington, it was my duty to look for a special building suitable to house the Center. Every weekend, I looked at different houses. Three times I thought I had found the proper place and I summoned the Center's Board to Washington. In my search I looked at 53 buildings. Finally, we found the proper place. My hand shook, but I also was enormously proud to sign the deed of purchase for that building. While still acting as ACPC President, I was elected to be the first Executive Director of the Center. One of my first jobs was to establish and to furnish the ACPC Room so that future generations would remember that it was the American Council for Polish Culture that established the Center. The plaque on the room's door bears witness to that fact.
I had the great privilege to serve as ACPC president during a unique time in Poland's and the world's history. I had the great honor to meet Lech Walesa when he was still struggling for freedom as head of the Solidarity movement. I had the opportunity to greet Walesa at the National Airport when he came to the United States for the first time. And I had the privilege to greet him as President of Poland.
I truly had the best of times. I believed each ACPC member to be my friend, and I will always stay your friend.
From: American Council for Polish Culture
Our Second Quarter Century, 1973-1998
Edited by Anna Chrypinska 1998
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From: NOWY DZIENNIK, May 28, 2004