BioA: Tobola, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph (Gold - 1959)

Contact:stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Tobola, Western, Surman, Hedler, Lesniewski, Ciokosz, Klich, Kmiciak, Tomaszkiewicz, Okonski, Webb, Lambert, Guell

----Source: Thorp Courier (Thorp, Clark Co., Wis.)  02/19/1959

Tobola, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph (Gold - 2 FEB 1959)

The children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Tobola honored their parents by inviting relatives and friends to a reception in commemoration of their golden wedding anniversary on Feb. 7^th, 1959, at St. Hedwig’s Parish Hall, Thorp, Wis.

The day began by all attending a solemn mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m., celebrated by Rev. F. Piekarski at St. Hedwig’s Chapel.  The jubilarians were escorted to the altar by two granddaughters, Ellen Tobola and Joyce Hedler.  Mass servers were Joseph Tobola and Robert Lesniewski.  St. Hedwig’s Choir sang old Polish songs under the direction of Mr. Al Ciokosz.

Joseph Tobola and Honorata Ann Klich were united in marriage at St. Adalbert’s Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., on Feb. 2, 1909.  Mrs. Mary Kmiciak, Mrs. Tobola’s sister, who on that eventful day was their flower girl, acted as their bridesmaid, and Mr. Michael Tomaszkiewicz, former treasurer of the Polish National Alliance, Chicago, was their best man.

A dinner followed at St. Hedwig’s Parish Hall for relatives and out of town friends, and immediately after that a program, "This is Your Life" was present with Tom Tobola narrating and Mrs. Leo Tobola at the piano.

Included in the program were "voices" by their neighbors and friends: Mrs. Harry Okonski, now of Longwood, who was their neighbor shortly after they settled in the vicinity of Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.), reminded them of incidents that happened nearly 50 years ago; similarly reminisced Mr. Harry Webb of Chippewa Falls, who was a candy salesman when Tobola’s resided at Reseburg, and Mrs. Clara Western, who was their neighbor in those early years.  Mrs. Louis Surman of Duluth, Minn., reminded Mr. Tobola how he was elected Polish National Alliance commissioner at the convention in Boston, Mass., in 1943.

Among the highlights of the program and most pleasing to the eye and ear was the appearance of "sextet" of Tobola’s grandchildren in colorful Polish costumes.  First they sang Mr. Tobola’s favorite song about a gray horse and painted sled, and then they danced "Krakowiak," a Polish folk dance.

The most surprising number probably was a recorded program of short speeches and songs in Polish, complied in Frankfort, Germany, by Capt. Anthony Klaskinski of Stevens Point, whom the Tobola’s visited on their European trip last summer.

From Chippewa Falls came a very composed by 72-year-old Mrs. Felix Lambert in honor of Tobola’s Golden Wedding:

Fifty years together

  God gives to just a few,

You were that chosen couple

  When he granted that to your.

He showered you with blessings

  Throughout those fifty years.

Perhaps with all your joys,

  You also shed tears.

Life wouldn’t be complete,

  If skies were always blue.

So God kept you for each other

  To tell your troubles to.

And when he lets you share

  The twilight of your life.

How nice to still possess your sweetheart

  Who is either husband or wife.

May God bless you and keep you

  For the years that are yet to be,

But today we all love you

  On this your Golden Jubilee.

At six o’clock at a reception for relatives, neighbors and friends, a set of resolutions with commendations and good wishes was presented by Mr. Corwin G. Guell on behalf of the Lions Club of Thorp.

Tobolas came to this part of the state in 1909.  They farmed in the vicinity of Thorp in in 1927 settled in our then village of Thorp.  Mr. Tobola was always interested in civic work and in politics.  From 1941 he represented, first the village and not the city of Thorp, as a supervisor on the County Board of Clark County.  He is serving the second term as mayor or Thorp and for many years he has been a director of Production Credit Association.  They have three sons, two daughters, fourteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and we wish them many more years of health and happiness as they start their second half-century together.

Out of town guests attending the Golden Jubilee celebration were: Mr. and Mrs. Michael Tomaszkiewicz, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tomaszkiewicz, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Piotrowicz, Bruno Rzepa, Mrs. A. Giesler, Stanley Siegel and Gerard Tobola of Chicago and vicinity; Mrs. Joseph Kaminski and Mrs. Alex Ziemba of Hammond, Ind.; Mr. and Mrs. P. Vaillancourt and their daughters and Mr. and Mrs. Louis Surman of Duluth, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Szumowski of Hayward, Wis.; Adam Bartoszes and Mrs. Clarence Glodowski of Stevens Point; Mr. and Mrs. M. Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Miller, Misses Jacqueline Hedler and Beverly Wicht of Milwaukee; J. Rowars and Miss Janet Hedler of la Crosse; Mr. and Mrs. Chester Boncler of Radisson, Harry Okonski of Longwood, Stanley Hajec of Dancy, Wis.  Many telegrams from various cities and two cables from Poland were received.