[Bogucka Photo]

Bogucka (Kulpinska), Jadwiga (Vega)
(1916 - 2009)
Jadwiga Bogucka Eulogy by Peter Bogucki [Arrow Picture]

Jadwiga Bogucka, 93, Polish activist

By Sally A. Downey

Inquirer Staff Writer, Dateline: Philadelphia, July 22, 2009

Jadwiga Kulpinska Bogucka, 93, formerly of Torresdale, a passionate supporter of Polish culture, died Sunday at Sunrise Assisted Living in Yardley. She was listening to music by her beloved Polish composer, Frederic Chopin, when she died, her son, Peter Bogucki, said.

Mrs. Bogucka was active with the Polish Intercollegiate Club and the Associated Polish Home in Philadelphia; sang with the Paderewski Choral Society; arranged speakers for the Polski Uniwersytet Ludowy (the Polish People's University) in Philadelphia, a lecture series; was local chapters coordinator for the Polish-American Historical Association; and served on the board of the Kosciuszko Foundation. Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish freedom fighter and an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

She visited relatives in Poland often, her son said, and took summer courses there in language and culture.

Mrs. Bogucka was born in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia. Her parents, Florentyna and Piotr Kulpinski returned to their native Poland with their children when she was 4. While they lived comfortably in Poland in the 1920s, Piotr sensed that there was more opportunity in America and brought his family back to the U.S. In 1930 Piotr opened Richmond Bakery in Port Richmond which the family operated for many years.

Mrs. Bogucka graduated from Kensington High School and earned a bachelor's degree as a scholarship student at Drexel University in 1938. She attended her 70th class reunion last year. She also earned a master's degree in home-economics education from Drexel. She taught home economics at Georgian Court College in Lakewood, N.J., and Bound Brook High School in New Jersey before her marriage to Alfred S. Bogucki in 1943.

After his military service, the couple lived in Georgia and California while he pursued his medical education. They settled in Torresdale in 1949. Dr. Bogucki died in 1980.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Bogucka is survived by two granddaughters.

Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Slabinski Funeral Home, 2614 Orthodox St., Philadelphia, and from 10 a.m. tomorrow at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, 650 Ferry Rd., Doylestown. A Funeral Mass will follow at 11 a.m. Mrs. Bogucka and her husband were among the core of volunteers who helped the Pauline Fathers establish the shrine in the 1960s. Burial will be in Our Lady of Czestochowa Cemetery in Doylestown.

Memorial donations may be made to Holy Ghost Preparatory School's Schreyer Challenge, 2429 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, Pa. 19020.

From: Obituary (2009)