11/04/2024
REMEMBERING A FRIEND
When tragedy strikes, media coverage often leaves out details which connect a decedent to the community. Reporting can’t capture the emotion that connects family and friends to the victim. To those unfamiliar with the casualty, the loss can appear impersonal, almost as a quantifiable statistic. Such was the case with the victim of the devastating house fire in Skowhegan on Halloween.
The man lost in that fire was Janusz Jankiewicz (His name was pronounced: Yah-noosh Yaan-kew-its). Janusz had been a resident of Skowhegan for approximately four decades. For those who didn’t recognize the name, I’d like to share a few details of his life that might make him more familiar.
Janusz emigrated to the United States from Poland during the early years of the Reagan administration. As an activist in the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, Janusz had been persecuted by the Polish government for his activities. Mr. Jankiewicz and his colleagues in Solidarity were periodically subject to detention and release by the state for their involvement in labor actions. With the cooperation of the Reagan administration, the Catholic Church sponsored the relocation of a number of Solidarity activists and their families to Maine. Janusz and his family were among them, and they eventually settled in Skowhegan at 706 Waterville Road.
After arriving in Somerset County, Janusz and his wife attended an English As A Second Language class taught by Douglass Corson. Doug also managed the Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre, and Janusz soon joined the crew as a projectionist. The technical and mechanical skills that he brought with him from Poland were well suited to the drive-in, where carbon arc lamps and mechanical projectors were still employed. After digital projection eliminated film, Janusz could be found in the ticket booth every weekend. He remained with the drive-in until shortly before its closing in 2023. In addition, Janusz worked for a number of local appliance and equipment repair companies.
Janusz paid meticulous attention to detail. This was vital in maintaining the old projectors at the drive-in but was often confounding when servicing the lawn equipment used at the theatre. One summer night, Janusz came up to the lot and towed the lawn tractor out of a large mud puddle that developed between rows 8 and 9! The mower was stuck deep in the mud; its wheels would only spin! After assessing the hapless scene, Janusz informed me that, “I break everything!”. Fortunately, he never knew that the tractor rolled into the deep ditch along Route 201! Some stories were best left untold!
Having lived half of his life in Poland under the watchful eye of the communist regime in the Soviet Union, Janusz was often challenged by American culture. A clash, of sorts, occurred one summer, on the Fourth of July, when Janusz sternly rebuked one of the drive-in’s crew members for wearing Stars & Stripes flag shorts. When I explained that it was a celebration of our country and its flag, Janusz didn’t understand. He came from a society where information and culture had been tightly controlled.
Though Janusz never returned to Poland,the sacrifice of his journey to the United States contributed to the rise of democracy in Poland, the end of communism in Europe, and the downfall of the Soviet Union.
That’s not bad for one's life's work!
Janusz was always willing to make a new friend, and I’m glad to have called him a friend of mine.
Don Brown
