Virginia Joan Bucko

Virginia Joan Bucko. December 8, 1923 – April 25, 2025 Sterling Heights, Michigan. Born on the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1923 required Stanley and Josephine (Koprowski) Czarnowski to name her Virginia. Dying on 25 April 2025, during the Octave of Easter after 101 years of faithful service, required God to have her join His resurrected Son that very moment. She always had a way of moving heaven and earth - to work her will. Virginia was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and lived the last half century in Sterling Heights. Possibly, the last woman veteran of World War II, she enlisted at age 17 in the Polish Army, fully ten months before America declared war on the Axis powers. She was in England to welcome the European Theatre warriors when they arrived three years later. Her work as an English-Polish translator and instruction manual writer probably won the Battle of Britain, as Polish pilots’ aircraft skills became the standard for the RAF. She met and married Polish Commander Edic Bucko, who had survived battling Nazi forces, in Poland, Hungry and France and would accompany the Allied invasion of Normandy, three days before D-Day 1944. Returning with Edic in hand after the war, they worked in the auto industry and as tavern-keepers before managing the Polish Army Veterans Home on Clinton River Road. After over two decades of service, Virginia continued to care for the Polish veterans for another five years after Edic was buried from the Polish Garrison’s Regimental Church, St. Josaphat, in Hamtramck in 2010. Virginia is preceded in death by her parents, eleven sisters, a brother and their spouses, as well as her husband Edic. Left, to cherish her rich memory, are her many “loving” nieces and nephews and their families. She will be exceedingly missed by the many neighbors and friends who held her in high esteem and who have benefited by her wit and solaced with her prayers, especially the multitude of rosaries recited daily. She was truly one of God’s chosen few, and she returned His gift faithfully and lovingly. Visitation Tuesday, April 29, 2025, from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., at Wujek -Calcaterra & Sons Inc., 36900 Schoenherr Rd., Sterling Heights (16 mile). Mass of Christian burial Wednesday, April 30, 2025, Instate from 9:00 a.m. until time of 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Michael Catholic Community Church, 40501 Hayes Rd, Sterling Heights, MI 48313 (Btw. 17 & 18 Mile), with the Reverend Father Michael Quaine officiating. Interment will follow Mass at Resurrection Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Please share memories with the family at their online guestbook at WujekCalcaterra.com

Virginia Joan Bucko

December 8, 1923 - April 25, 2025