Parish Stories

Written by parishioner Barb Full

What is it like to obtain travel documents from a Polish National Security office to take your three young sons from Warsaw to the United States while a military officer interrogates you?  He knew every detail about your parents, but he didn’t believe the dilemma you were in, that your mother was ill in America and that you must take your children with you.  “Have your mother-in-law watch the children,” he stated dryly.  You offer him the only thing you have in your pocket, five half-dollar Kennedy coins; he takes them but says, “Go, but know that we will be watching your husband closely.”

Barbara Ochalski, top center, with her parents.During WWII, Tadeusz Rybak, Barbara Ochalski’s father, was a Polish lieutenant who became a POW in Nazi Germany and survived five and a half years of solitary confinement.  Her mother, Maria, was taken captive by a German general who needed a housekeeper.  Her abode was the attic of his home, and she suffered horrible abuse at the hands of the general’s wife. Her parents met after the war, and Barbara and her younger brother were born in Germany. 

In response to the extraordinary refugee crisis, the United States government created the legal classification "Displaced Person" to describe the unique status of those who could not be repatriated and needed assistance emigrating.  A cotton plantation owner in Clarksdale, Mississippi, sponsored the family.  Living conditions were poor, work was hard, and the pay was 35 cents an hour.  But the family considered these hardships a small price to pay to live in the home of the free and the brave. With the promise of a better job opportunity, the family, with two small children in tow and a pregnant mother, traveled three days by bus from Mississippi to Lynn, Massachusetts, and no job was available. Barbara’s father, who had a degree in mechanical engineering from the military academy in Poland, could not find employment and worked as a refuse collection to support the family. A second daughter, Jane, was born with cerebral palsy in Lynn, Massachusetts.  Eventually, on a dream and a prayer, a Polish friend informed Barbara’s father that a Polish entrepreneur had a factory in Waterbury, Connecticut, and was willing to hire her father as an engineer. Once again, the family moved and expanded with three more sons born in Connecticut.

Barbara (Basia in Polish) attended college for two years in New Britain, Connecticut, and then attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, majoring in French and English literature. She applied for a Fulbright Scholarship in Comparative Literature and was offered two locations: Paris and Warsaw. Her heart chose Warsaw. For two years, she worked with a well-known Polish scholar and professor. In 1969, she married Jacek, and together they raised their three sons in a Warsaw suburb.  
Barbara and Jacek Ochalski on their wedding day.In 1979, Pope John Paul II made a famous visit to his homeland of Poland, and Barbara had the great honor of meeting him personally.  Pope John Paul II's first visit to Poland is linked to the emergence of Solidarity in 1980. He visited Poland three times before the establishment of semi-free elections in 1989. On August 31, 1980, the Solidarity Polish trade union was created at the Gdańsk Shipyard under Lech Wałęsa's and others’ leadership to protest working conditions, political repression, rising food prices and shortages, and healthcare costs. It began a nationalist opposition to Communist rule that led to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Barbara’s family was luckier than most, as Jacek was a large animal veterinarian, and villagers often gifted the family with meat. However, providing the family with other food items was still a struggle. Stefan was 12 years old, Rafal 8, and Pawel only 4 when their mother decided to put the children’s needs first and leave for a better life in America. Jacek stayed behind and continued to work, hoping to join the family soon. Her courage and intellect took over that day in November 1980 when she went to the government security office.  She did not have much money, but she knew the Polish officer would value the Kennedy coins; thankfully, it worked. Upon arrival, she and the boys had no place to stay as her mother could not provide housing for her and the boys.  She found refuge in Middletown, CT, and found temporary employment doing odd jobs. A year later, Barbara needed gallbladder surgery, and her doctor wrote a letter to the Polish consulate to petition them to allow Jacek to travel to the United States.  Polish officials said, “We will fly her to the hospital here for surgery.” Some 13 months later, Jacek’s boss finally signed the papers for his release to the States but warned him, “Don’t ever come back.” 

Though he attempted to take the VCATs, Jacek failed to pass these American exams. Still, he found work at the Department of Agriculture in New Jersey and, finally, contrary to his beloved profession, became a toxicologist in a private laboratory setting in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Barbara was the director of Medical Staff at a Princeton, NJ hospital. In 2012, when Jacek was diagnosed with cancer, their son Pawel, a neurosurgeon with WellSpan Health in York, brought his parents here to help provide care. Jacek passed away in May of 2014.

Barbara, bottom left, with her son Pawel, daughter-in-law Melanie, and 4 grandsons.Today, Barbara worships at our Church with her son Pawel and daughter-in-law, Dr. Melanie Ochalski, a fertility and menopause specialist, and their four sons: Sebastian, 15, Julian, 14, Nicholas, 12, and Christian, 5. Sebastian, Julian, and Nicholas are SJY altar servers. Barbara plays a supportive role in her son’s family. She has eight grandchildren in total. 
 
While her sister Jane was in a nursing home several years ago, Barbara and her brother Stefan established Jane’s Home Foundation in Waterbury, Connecticut.  Jane’s Home, where Jane and two other individuals with cerebral palsy reside, provides community-based housing for developmentally disabled adult women.   

Barbara leads the Hospitality Ministry and says she has “a Victorian soul” because she loves baking, cooking, and preparing elegant food displays.  She has also traveled to Mandeville, Jamaica, three times as part of the Jamaican Mission Trip, is a Eucharistic Minister, and is a member of Regnum Christi.  She truly believes God was by her side during her life's most complex and painful times.  Seeing the good in another is one of the most vital elements of her faith. “Do not see the leper, but see Christ in everyone you meet.” 

Written by parishioner Barb Full

Parishioner Harold "Bud" Pressel was born on Feb. 3, 1924 (yes, you read that correctly!) and grew up on Lehman Street in York City. He attended William Penn Senior High School but dropped out during World War II in 1943 to join the Army Air Force.  He met and fell in love with Grace Myers, valedictorian of York Catholic Class of 1941, and married her before he enlisted because “I didn’t want to lose her.”  Pressel did basic training in Miami and initially repaired trucks, then went to radio school and eventually became a gunner on a B-24 bomber. He was stationed in Torretta, a small town in southern Italy.

On Feb 7, 1945, he was flying his 3rd mission in the B-24. The bomber was nicknamed “The Flying Coffin” because it had only one hatch at its tail, and if it was hit, the crew had to navigate a narrow catwalk through the bomb bay to the plane’s rear.  The crew had just finished its bomb run, dropping 4 tons of bombs on a refinery, just across the Danube River from Vienna, Austria. The mission did not go as planned when the Germans set off smoke bombs to obscure the refinery. The bomber looped around for a second pass, and flak struck the plane. It was losing fuel and dropped from 26,000 feet to 14,000 feet in a matter of seconds.  The crew knew they couldn’t get over the Alps back to Italy, so they attempted to get to Russian lines so they could land in Allied territory.  

Two pilots, two officers, and six gunners all bailed.  Pressel told himself, “Don’t panic,” when he jumped from the hatch. Then, when he pulled the D-ring to release the parachute, the D-ring broke off, so it did not open; he again said, “Do not panic!” He plummeted to the ground at about 120 mph. He held out his arms and straightened his legs, and that worked to slow his fall. He had the presence of mind to pull hard on the snaps on the front of his jump gear, and this time, the small pilot chute fluttered out, followed by the main parachute.   

All the crew was able to bail; the pilot fell into a lake and was rescued by Russian troops.   Pressel and the rest of the crew were not so lucky, landing in a Hungarian cornfield and taken by German officers. The Nazi officer asked him multiple questions about his mission and where his squadron was located.  Each time Pressel answered: Name, rank & serial number. All in all, Bud was in three different German Prisoner of War camps: Wetzler, Nuremburg, and Moosburg.  Finally, on April 29, 1945, General George Patton liberated the camp.

The stories Bud told me about his time in the camps are too numerous to mention here, but I can assure you they were not easy. I asked him about his family and what he did after the war. He got educated on the GI bill and became an electrician, rose to electrical superintendent and worked many years at Bechtel, a large construction company that is a major supplier to the nuclear power industry. He retired in 1989. Grace and Bud went on to have two sons, Jim, 78, who still lives in York, and Gary, 74, who resides in Tennessee. Grace passed in 2021 at the tender age of 99.

Today Bud lives less than a mile from our Church and has a caretaker named Lori who stays with him about 50 hours a week. Lori told me she can hardly keep up with him — every day, they go to the park and shopping, and they frequently visit his younger sister Virginia, 93, who lives at Providence Place in Dover. Bud also exercises 3 days a week: he belongs to Planet Fitness, goes to the Veterans Administration gym, and has a private trainer come to his home once a week. When I visited him, he easily negotiated the stairs and took me to his basement to see all his war memorabilia.  

When we talked about the Church and his faith, He remembered that Catholic priests would visit him and other POWs but recalled that they never saw the same priest twice in a row. Bud would ask where a particular priest was but was always told “he escaped.” Perhaps it was divine intervention at work.
Bud and Grace originally joined St. Rose Church (approx. 1970) and he remembers he was on a soliciting committee going door to door for church donations. When they moved to East York and joined St. Joseph Church, he was very active in helping with Bingo and the carnival. He maintains occasional contact with Fr. Rigo and has asked him to officiate his funeral when the time comes. He told me he uses his faith EVERY DAY, praying morning and evening. When I asked him about heaven, he told me it will be beautiful and peaceful, and he looks forward to seeing Grace and his parents again.

Written by parishioner Barb Full

The 32nd year of the St. Joseph Carnival is “in the books”. New parishioners may be interested in the history of this enduring fundraiser.

In 1991, Pastor John Daya informed parishioner Neil Crispo (now Deacon Neil) that he wanted to build a Church on the current school property and asked for ideas on how to raise money. In 1989, Neil had moved to York from Swissvale, a small town outside of Pittsburgh, where he had been a volunteer fireman.  He explained to Fr. John that the Swissvale Fire Department raised its funds by holding a yearly carnival.  After he was done, Fr. John said, “I have only one question – when are you going to start this?” Neil knew it would be a large undertaking, so that year, only the planning, design, and most importantly, volunteer recruitment for the Carnival was done. Neil said that many other fundraisers do not utilize children as volunteers, but he welcomed them, especially as “runners” transporting supplies in the shopping carts donated by Weis Markets. Neil also knew how to build the midway booths because he had made them in Swissvale.

In June of 1992, the first Carnival was held! 

As with any long-lasting event, the Carnival has evolved through the years.  Initially, music was provided by a Baltimore band; previous Parish Manager Lou Pioli remembered that it was “Big Wheeley & the Whitewalls”. In addition to the amusement rides for all ages, there was also a German beer garden, nightly dinners in the cafeteria originally supervised by our very own Chef, Carmela Spangler (turkey & mashed potatoes with gravy was the best seller!), and a cakewalk put on by the Donna & Ed Schneider family. The raffle has always been a very successful part of the Carnival and years ago, raffle tickets were mailed to families ahead of time, as well as sold at the Carnival. One year a very generous Parishioner gave his $10,000 prize back to the Church.

To this day, the carnival is a labor of love given by MANY parishioners who have donated their time over the years to set up, man, tear down and take final inventory of the supplies.
One person stepping down from the carnival this year has donated her time every year since 1999 when she & her daughter moved to York. Linda Burgess, originally from Bucks County, PA, is the daughter of Parishioner Carin Cytacki and the mother of 28-year-old Theresa. Linda worked on organizing the games, alongside parishioner Kathy Vosburg since 2008, then took the lead role on games in 2014 when Kathy completed her time. Linda dedicated 20+ years of volunteering in the booths with her daughter before she officially joined our Carnival committee. 

While interviewing Linda, I was impressed with her energy – she has always worked 2 jobs, which enabled her daughter to go to college and then get her master’s degree in athletic training.  Linda is currently working as a full-time Personal Care Assistant for children with special needs at Lincoln Intermediate #12 and part-time as a sales associate for Boscov’s Department Store.

A lot of her prominent memories of the carnival had to do with the weather, which is certainly a major factor in the success of a carnival. She remembered one year that a stationary storm front occurred several days of the event and all the games had to be moved into the gym. Just a couple years ago, a mini tornado ran through the midway and some of the wooden booths were knocked over. Both times, she marveled at the ease and speed of the team effort to prevail over the circumstances.

When I asked Linda what she learned by volunteering, she quickly said “patience”. Motivating volunteers and delegating work can be trying at times, but she put her heart into her work and learned a lot. She enjoyed meeting other parishioners and watching families grow over the years. 

As we serve, we strengthen our faith bonds and mirror Christ’s humility. Thank you to all the volunteers, especially Linda, for her 25 years of dedication!