Stanley (Stosh) Zdepski

My father Stanley (Stosh) was a kind soul with a mischievous side, a kid at heart no matter his actual age.  Aunt Helen told me that when they were in school in Raven Rock the teacher took the train to and from Frenchtown everyday.  When school was over he would hide in the school, hard to do in a 1 room School House, and when she was walking to the train he would yell out the window that she locked him in and she had have to go back and let him out and she would miss the train….bad Stosh.  

He loved going hunting with his brothers and sister Helen.  I don’t think he went to get a deer he just wanted to be there.  He was the small engine expert amongst his brothers and he would think nothing of dropping everything and heading over to a family member if he heard they had a mower, rototiller or chainsaw on the fritz. Whenever Uncle Steve or Uncle John would call he would drop every to drive to Milford.  One time he was going to Uncle Steve’s and my mom had a friend in Frenchtown, so he dropped her off for a visit while he was repairing an engine 2 mi up the road.  When he arrived home I said “Where is mommy?” And he said, “oh shit I left her in Frenchtown” and he had to go back and get her.  He did not limit himself to misplacing his wife.  When he was single he would hang out with the Gill brothers from Lambertville and together with one of the brothers he went to New York to drink and have a night on the town.   They had to spend the night because they lost the car … the car wasn’t lost, stolen or towed, the they were to inebriated to locate it.

He always had a garden….we didn’t eat half of what he planted but everyone else did..when Colligans Inn had music on Saturday night everyone took folding chairs and sat in his garden to listen to the music.  After my mom died we were riding in the car and he said I still love your mother and I said you should daddy you were married for 54 years and then he said and we never had a fight …I popped up in the middle and said what the f**k house did you live in.  Dad saw the good side in most everything.

Stanley and Amelia were quite a pair, even when he was not misplacing important people like his wife.  My parents had friends that they had dinner with every Saturday night and after my mom passed the female said “I can’t believe your mother orders your father’s dinner and he never said a word” . Anyone who knew my mom knows he didn’t have a chance.   On Christmas Eve him and Uncle Vince would go up and down Broad Street saying Merry Christmas and they were not drinkers but by the time they got home they were both pretty snockered.  

He was a lot like grand pop.  Not only is he the one who bore the closest likeness physically, but he was also very quiet at home.  When with children and youngsters his boyhood nature would show through and he could engage both there play and their learning. He taught all the kids on Broad Street how to drive.  He loved his grandchildren unconditionally…. Like anyone, my own life has not been perfect,  but the best thing I ever did was give my parents grandchildren.   

Stanley knew how to work, and when he was working he was 100% on the job.   He loved the job at he had Liberty Village and he thought no one worked as hard as he did ( which he was right). His start time was 7am and he left our house about 3 blocks away at 6:15 am.  Cousin Joel told me when he and Uncle Steve were doing some masonry work at Liberty Village the site manager stopped by to talk about the project.  He chatted about Stanley, and said that if he left he was going to have to hire 3 people to replace him.  That was Stanley, always 3 for the price of 1, a fun loving kid, hard worker, and a loving father, husband and family man.