Bieluch, Rev. Edward William
(Feb. 28, 1942 -- Sept. 26, 2010)
Sheriff and priestMuch to my surprise, until they joined the Catholic exodus from Poland, Joseph Bieluch, who was born and raised in the farming village of Brozowka, and my mother, in Dlugi Kat, attended the same church in Kadzidlo. Bieluch traveled a few times to America before his wife and their first child joined him in Hartford, Connecticut, where he raised a large family. He worked most of his life on tobacco farms. He died December 28, 1958; and his wife, Catherine, whom he married in Poland, was laid to rest on April 17, 1970. Few, if any, Bieluch names remain in the old voivodship. In 2002, however, there were 144 Bieluch names in other parts of Poland.
It has grown a little less in the United States. The name is derived from biel, which means white in Polish, and so far it isn't scattered in the United States as in Poland. The nest in Florida was created in 1967 when Edward William Bieluch, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, moved to Palm Beach County with his wife, Charlotte F. Hawson, whom he married July 9, 1964, and grubbed for his bread and butter in one way or another until he donned a policeman's uniform in January of 1973. He divorced his first wife on December 8, 1972, and his second wife, Barbara, with whom he was married two years, October 25, 1976. He married his third wife on July 20, 1979. Altogether, he had four children -- James, Jeff, Kim and Katarzyna (Catherine in Polish) -- who will eventually produce their own stories.
To Bieluch the sheriff's department of Palm Beach County was always in the headlines of Florida newspapers. The county itself, created in 1909, covered 2,386 square miles and was Florida's wealthiest county. It became a fashionable winter resort when Henry M. Flagler, who extended a railroad to Lake Worth in 1894 built two large hotels on each side of the lake, and induced rich Americans to spend their winter months in Palm Beach, between Lake Worth and the Atlantic ocean, and West Palm Beach on the other side. He built a palatial residence in Palm Beach and other rich families followed him.
At the time, most of the people in Florida lived in the northern half of the state. The density of the population in the rest of the state was less than two persons per square mile. As Bieluch worked his way through the ranks of the sheriff's department, the density of Palm Beach County rose to 573 persons per square mile. He was touched by all the crimes that were committed in Palm Beach County, for all of the sheriff's men were involved in the jail system, security at the courthouse in West Palm Beach, political rallies, airports, and other places not to mention the transportation of criminals from scenes of crime and to and from jails and hospitals.
By the time he had spent thirty years in uniform he was thinking of getting out of it for good. It was a time when he felt that Bob A. Neumann, a former FBI agent who was elected sheriff of Palm Beach County in 1996, wasn't keeping up with the county's population growth. Bieluch took off his uniform, albeit only for a political campaign, and challenged Sheriff Neumann. Despite lack of a college education, money and political experience, he was easily elected sheriff of 1,131,184 persons in 2000. Only four percent of the people in Florida's second largest county was Polish.
When he took office, approximately 79 percent of the population in Palm Beach County was white; 13 percent Black or African American, and 12 percent Hispanic or Latino. About 17 percent of the population was foreign born. The percentage from Haiti was 14 percent; Cuba (10%), Mexico (9%), Jamaica (5%), Canada (5%), Columbia (5%), and the United Kingdom (3%). No matter where they came from, Sheriff Bieluch questioned their patriotism, for a short time at least, when he issued an order to his deputies to take the emblem of the American flag off their uniforms. Nobody did. His critics called it "anti-American." Others said that he set the standard for all law enforcement officers.
From the beginning, Bieluch was angry with leaders in the black community who wanted him to promote unqualified candidates. He promoted to upper ranks black men and women who were competent and deserved more opportunities. In the first two years, while he was sheriff, he made 148 promotions -- 17 blacks and 10 Hispanics. He commanded a staff of 1,100 officers, including helicopter pilots and 517 cops on the street, which was still less than sheriffs of adjoining counties owned.
After building up a good reputation, Bieluch announced that he would run for sheriff again in 2004. He thought for the moment it was the right thing to do. But a higher calling changed his plans. In August of 2005, he was ordained by the Anglican Catholic Church, Diocese of the South, with 11 churches in Florida, and was sent to assist the priest in charge of the Holy Spirit Anglican Catholic Church in Palm Springs, a village of 11,699 in Palm Beach County.
In 2009, while driving to Fort Myers twice a month to celebrate Mass in the Anglican church, he had to stop upon one occasion and enter the emergency ward of a hospital. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma -- bone marrow cancer -- and took chemotherapy for more than a year. The treatment was no good. He lost weight and always felt weak. He lost his battle with cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach.
After a memorial service at St. Thomas More Anglican Church in Boynton Beach, Florida, Bieluch's body was cremated and the ashes were turned over to the family.
From: Edward Pinkowski -- [email protected] (2010)