Stella Angeline Cholewiak

Our Mother, Stella Angeline Cholewiak, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on December 31, 2024. Mom was born in 1920 to Angeline (Kieraga) and Walter Miroslaw, and grew up in Hamtramck, MI with her brother Anthony and sister, Lottie (Zajac). She met our Dad, Walter Cholewiak, at a movie/ bowling date. He was the first and only person she had ever dated. They were married in 1941, and lived most of their lives on Detroit’s East Side where their sons were raised. They moved to Sterling Heights, MI in 1980. Mom and Dad were complete partners in their family; both of them were breadwinners, housekeepers, and child raisers. Mom graduated from Hamtramck High’s Commercial Program in 1937, then received a Diploma in Secretarial Skills from the Detroit Business Institute in 1938. She earned Membership in the Order of Gregg Artists, by transcribing 100 shorthand wpm for five minutes. Her earliest jobs included wartime work as a stenographer for a U.S. Army General in the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit, followed by years in the order center at the J.L. Hudson’s store, also downtown. The need for higher pay to support the Catholic education they wanted for their sons, led her to work in suburban shops and factories. She was a press operator at Wayne Metal Molding for several years (next door to a cookie factory, so we had treats when she came home at night). Mom spent her final working years as an inspector at the GE Tool and Die plant on 8-Mile Road. After she retired in 1962, Mom volunteered at Saint Joseph Mercy Health Hospital for a time and she and our Dad traveled extensively, often overseas, including to Poland where they visited her cousins near Lublin. Her life revolved around her family, with summer outings to Michigan lakes, cabin vacations “up North,” trips to New England to visit his big family, and holiday celebrations rotating from parents to sisters to brother’s, to our homes. In addition to her devotion to cooking her Mother’s traditional Polish meals, Mom and Dad could be found at the Sterling Heights Senior Center, or playing canasta or pinochle, or bowling, or just sitting across from each other, reading the books they loved. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1991; she lost the love of her life the next year... She was a loving mother to her sons Roger (Linda Bennett) and Ric Cholewiak. Stella was a cherished grandmother to David Bennett (Nancy Ulanowicz), Danielle (Sal Cerchio), Steven (Sara Deus), and Alan (Kate O’Donohue). She was also beloved great-grandmother to Sam and Jacob Bennett, Lyra Cerchio, Cora and Nova Cholewiak, and Connor, Toby, Lila and Tess Cholewiak. She is also survived by other loving family members, including her nieces, Sr. Nancy Zajac, JoAnn Cholewiak, Gail Noonan, and June James, as well as nephews Jackie and Bruce Neylon. There will be a family-only visitation for Stella at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons Funeral Home in Sterling Heights. Private interment will be at White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery in Troy, Michigan. In lieu of any flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Stella's memory to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Please share memories with the family at their "On-Line Guestbook" at WujekCalcaterra.com

Stella Angeline Cholewiak

August 1, 1920 - December 31, 2024