Kenneth Pietrzak, 62, of McGregor, passed away Sunday, June 21st at his residence. A memorial celebration and gathering will be 12PM Thursday, June25th at Curves International Training Center, 100 Ritchie Rd. Woodway, TX 76712. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online Guest Book at www.LakeShoreFuneralHome.com.
Kenneth was born March 17, 1947 in Manville, NJ to Stanley and Florentine (Raczkowski) Pietrzak. He served with the U.S. Army in Korea during the Vietnam War.
He was an English professor in Montgomery, NJ from 1969-1970. He then worked at Crown Cork and Seal in New England for 30 years and for Curves International after relocating to Texas.
Ken and his wife, Ann relocated from New England to Texas two years ago. Ken enjoyed photography and woodworking. He could always be seen on his tractor with a smile on his face. He had a love for classical music and military history. Ken was a loyal family man and especially loved spending time with his wife and grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents.
Survivors include wife of 34 years, Ann Pietrzak; daughters, Jennifer Gagne, Lynn Haber, Lana Schmidt, and Cindy Bakios; son, Ron Bakios; ten grandchildren; two great grandchildren; sister, Barbara Calabrese and husband, Frank; and two nieces and one nephew.
In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Disabled American Veterans, P.O. Box 14031, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301.
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Ann, my deepest sympathy of your lost, my heart goes out to you and your family. Ken was a good friend as well as a great co-worker. He was always willing to help anyone, and on many occasions he did help me as well as my family. God Bless, my thoughts and prayers goes out to you and your family.
Crown lost his biggest asset when Ken left the company. He was loved by all who knew him. We are very sadden by his passing
I’m writing from London, Ontario. Part of my job is to speak to Curves International, and I always enjoyed talking with him. He told me all about his beautiful wife Ann, and the other members of his family. He was so proud of all of you! He was funny, learned and kind; quick with a joke, and always open and interested.
Ken’s family has been in my prayers, and in the prayers of my family. I want you to know the length of Ken’s reach — that he made an impact in other countries, too.
I am so sad! I will really miss Ken.
Patricia, his co-worker, wrote to me that he was the "best ever," and that made me smile. What a perfect way to describe such a personality!
Ken’s life deserves to be memorialized with the same degree of eloquence that he himself possessed. Of that task, I am not worthy.
His insight and perception made Ken a profound influence during my humble career at Crown. It was an honor to merely be in his presence. I will forever have the utmost respect for the memory of his character and qualities. My sincere condolences to Ken’s family.
May Ken rest in eternal peace.
Ken was such a pleasure to work with. His stories were just wonderful to hear and brought a smile to many faces. My prayers and thoughts are with the family. God Bless You!
Papa, I’m going to miss you so much, and it’ll be tough to walk up to the house and not hear you say, "Ashley Ann" in greeting. But, at the same time, I am relieved that you are now in a better place, and know that one day I will see you again.
You were an absolutely fantastic man, and one of the greatest inspirations and motivations in my life. I could write forever about each and every moment. I will never forget the days you and I spent in your workshop, and will never stop listening to the fantastic music you (and I) loved so much. Most kids have all of those new pop-stars on their media players. I have Mozart and Beethoven, and so many more. When I hear of ‘R2D2’, I think first of the trusty dusty vacuum cleaner before I ever think of the Star Wars character. Your stories were the light of my day, and you, a light of my life. You were wonderful to everyone; those from work, those you just met, and everyone in the family, Grandma especially. We all will miss you, and I will miss you. I love you always and forever, Papa.
I love you.
Ann
Know that you and your family are I my thoughts and prays. and that Ken will be greatly remembered.
Charlene
(Crown Cork & Seal)
Ken was always a pleasure to speak with. He will be missed but no forgotten.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire family. I will miss Ken dearly; for he truly was a blessing and such a sweet man. His smile, laughter and stories will forever be remembered! God Bless!!
Although I did not know Ken for very long he was a joy to work with. He had the best stories and he will be greatly missed.
Ken was my father for 35 years. He married my mom and took on 4 children that were not his responsibility in 1975. I call Ken my father because he earned that title when my own biological father opted out. He worked very hard every day to support his family and never complained about doing it. He came home to us every single night. Over the years, he and I did not always see eye to eye on everything. But that’s OK, what family does? We are both stubborn. He was a genuinely kind man who was loyal to his family. He loved my mom more than anything in the world. He would do anything for her. I will always be reminded of him when I hear the song "She Is His Only Need" by Wynona Judd. I would like to play that at the service on Thursday for everyone to hear. Before passing, he made sure my mom would be OK and got everything in order for her and us the best he could. We miss him already. The family has enjoyed reading the many nice thoughts left by others on this web site. Thank you. It allows us to see the many ways he touched others.
I am sad to hear the news of Ken’s passing. He hired me 22 years ago as young kid while attending college and I enjoyed working closely with him when I became the Superintendent. I will miss the story’s he used to tell. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Not enough time, not enough words to say what Kenny, meant to me. Kenny was my cousin with a passion for model railroads, a mentor who directed me toward college, a friend who, over the years, shared his wit and advice in letters that made me laugh out loud and think, deeply. Life gives us too few like Kenny. I will cherish my meories forever.
Dear Ann and Family
I had the pleasure of working with Ken at Crown for many years..He was always good for a long conversation and interesting stories. He spoke often about you and your family.
He will always have a special place in my heart.
May God’s love be with you thru this hard time.
Diane
Ann:
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I had the pleasure of working with Ken for many years and he never ceased to amaze me with his wit and sense of humor. He was truly a great guy and will be missed by all.
From the fullness of God
I did not know ken, but I wanted to say I am sory for your families loss. My family is grateful for his service to our nation.
Kenn Pietrzak
Millbrook, AL
Papa we love you so much and as much as we are sad to see you go we know you are in a better place watching over us. Please know you are with us every day and we were so blessed to have you in our lives. We will all be reunited again one day but until then we will miss you dearly. Love Krystal, Mike and your Great Grandboys Caleb and Justin
Papa its been a little over a month now and we miss you more and more each day. The boys are doing fantastic they have grown so much and we are doing just what you say enjoying every minute of it. We look at our last photo with you and grandma, mike the boys and I every day as it hangs in our livingroom. Caleb always points to you and grandma and says love papa and ammy… he cant say grammy all the way.. so cute even though they didnt know you long we will surely tell them all the great things about you. Caleb has taken a love to trains and it reminds me of when i was younger seeing your trains in the upstairs room. we love you and miss you very much and we know you are watching over all of us 🙂
You will be missed Ken. I was blessed to have been able to speak with Ken from time to time while he worked for Curves Int. He always made my day a little brighter. My prayers go out to Ken’s family and friends.
I had the pleasure of being hired by Ken several years ago. Who knew that three years down the road I’d be sitting in his old office performing HR and IR tasks. I loved working with Ken because of his unique perspective. There will never be another like him, and he will be sorely missed by the Crown family.
Dear Ann,
I spoke with Cindy today and my prayers and thoughts are with you and the rest of the family.
Take Care,
Marilyn
Dear Ann & Family,
Our prayers are for you during this time of loss.
I was also employed by Crown in Lawrence and during our many years at the plant Ken and I had many a good chat. He loved you Ann and he loved all of the children. He often spoke of you. It was easy to tell he deeply loved you all.
It’s our prayer that our God and Savior Jesus Christ would wrap his loving arms around you in the days and months to come and that you would find encouragement through His written Word.
With love,
Moe & Karan Bergeron
& family
My deepest sympathies to your family. Ken was a great person with a gift for telling great stories. He was a very kind person who spoke so often of his family. I had the pleasure of working with him for many years from the day he hired me at Crown in 1988 up until his retirement. He will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Ken was a very thoughtful and caring man. He lit up a room with his jokes and always had a story to tell. It was a pleasure being around him.
He was such a wonderful man and was an absolute pleasure to work with! He always made you smile and loved to tell his stories. I will never forget the day he spilled his whole cup of coffee on my desk and I told him I was going to tell Roger he did it because he had sign all the papers he got wet but Roger never asked!!! Will miss him dearly and loved him much!
From Belleville, Ontario, Canada: Ann and family, may the Lord be your Comfort during this sad time.
There are so many things to say about Ken, I could fill a whole page. I loved working and talking with him about war movies, Classical Music and his repair shop. He told me how he would fix sewng machines and how he fixed a large sofa for a friend and he coverd it too without having to remove it from the person’s house. I think he was able to fix just about anything, he loved to talk about how he and his grandchild would work out in his workshop and build things together and listen to his music. He was so proud of his family. He shared many stories of Ann’s sewing machines and how wonderful a seamstress she was and that people would come from a long way off to have her fix their clothes. He loved her so much. Yes I loved hearing him talk about his family, they were everything to him.
Sadly we will all miss you.
Dear Ann,
I have many fond memories of Ken over the years that we worked together at Crown.We had a lot of laughs and he always loved to tell his old Army stories. He was an excellet HR Manager and he has been missed since he left.He would always help an employee out with their problem and he saved several people their jobs by working with them. Everyone that I have talked to at Crown is saddened by his passing. My prayers are with you and your family.
I really enjoyed working with Ken because there wasn’t a problem he couldn’t resolve, and always with a pleasant disposition and a war story to go along with it! I will always remember his smiling face and encouraging words, and how much he adored his wife and family.
My thoughts and prayers are with your family at this time. Ken was a wonderful man and a pleasure to work with at Curves.
Ken was a very sweet and caring man. I’m going to miss his laugh and the stories he shared. We were blessed to have him in our lives. May you find comfort and strength through God and each other.
To the family of Mr.Pietrzak,
He change so many lives at
Crown,He will be sadly miss.
May God Protect and Keep you all at this trying time.
You are in our Prayers.