Remembering Julia Olga Skowron Częstochowski’s
Julia Olga Skowron Częstochowski’s life was deeply rooted in the Polish American community of New York. Born and raised in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, she grew up in a family devoted to Polish cultural and community life. Her parents, Francis Skowron (1878–1967) and Victoria Kubik (1896–1981), were active in the Kosciuszko Foundation and Our Lady of Consolation Church. Her father, the owner of Knickerbocker Pants Company at 1142 Willoughby Avenue, helped Father Alexius A. Jarka establish the Polish parish in Williamsburg in 1909. The two remained lifelong friends.
While attending Grover Cleveland High School, Julia studied piano with the distinguished George F. Seuffert, who directed the Fordham University Band for forty years and performed at the Forest Park Music Grove, established by his father in 1905. She later attended New York University for two years.
Music became Julia’s own way of contributing to the community. In 1935, at the age of twelve, she began playing piano for Rada Oświatowa’s Polish classes at
Washington Irving High School. Two years later, she became an accompanist for the Matusz Folk Dance Group, founded by Bronisław Matusz and later led by Henry and Władzia Jaworowski. She traveled with the group, performing at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the Brooklyn Museum, and numerous other venues, and accompanied students at Polish supplementary schools.
Her first job was with Bank P.K.O. During the early 1940s, she was also active in the Polish-American Collegiate Association of the Kosciuszko Foundation. She continued playing for the Matusz group until 1948, when she married Joseph Stephen Czestochowski (1920–2004), whose career included service as a Marine Corps pilot and reserve officer, work with Pan-American Airlines, and employment as a pharmacist with Parke-Davis. As their children grew older, Julia returned to
accompanying classes at the Maria Konopnicka Supplementary School in Greenpoint.
Julia’s commitment to others extended well beyond music. During her husband’s ten years as president of Polish Gift of Life, she worked alongside him behind the scenes, helping the organization bring more than 140 children to the United States for open-heart surgery.
She also devoted many years to the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. By 2001, she had served for approximately twenty years as Assistant to the Executive Director, contributing to the daily work that sustained the Institute and its scholarly community. She remained involved with the Kosciuszko Foundation and the Polish American Congress, continuing the family tradition of service to Polish American institutions.
In 1990, Julia and her husband jointly chaired the Kosciuszko Foundation’s 55th Ball. In April 2001, the Pulaski Association honored her as one of its Women of the New Millennium, recognizing her longstanding contributions to the community.
Julia is survived by two children, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Her son, Joseph S. Czestochowski, a 1971 Sendzimir Scholarship recipient and former trustee of the Kosciuszko Foundation (1988–1996), is also a member of PIASA, as was his father.
Through music, charitable work, and decades of quiet, dedicated service, Julia helped sustain the institutions and relationships that connected generations of Polish Americans.
The Częstochowski Family
