Background on Josephine Czaja
Born in Niewszawa, Poland in 1904, Josephine Latosinski emigrated to the United States with her parents as an infant, arriving with her mother Stacia in 1905, four years after her father Frank had settled in Waterbury, Connecticut. The eldest of a family of at least seven, Josephine studied at the Booth and Bayliss Commercial College and then began work as a secretary for a Waterbury firm.
In 1926, Josephine married an electrical engineer, Joseph Czaja, the son of Polish immigrants who was born and raised in Connecticut. After moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, Joseph worked for Westinghouse for many years and he and Josephine were deeply involved in the local Polish community. A talented singer and musician, Czaja was an active member of the St. Cecilia Choir and the Ladies Guild of Our Lady of the Rosary Church and she was a stalwart of the Polish Women's Alliance and the Polish American Club. The couple had three children, Ronald, Jean, and Caroline.
Josephine Czaja died in 1993 and is buried with her husband in St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Chicopee.
