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Stephanie Parker

May 9, 1917 - February 19, 2018
Redford Township, MI

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Visitation

Wednesday, February 21, 2018
3:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST
Turowski Life Story Funeral Homes
Livonia, West of Middlebelt
30200 Five Mile Rd.
Livonia, MI 48154
(734) 525-9020

Rosary 7:00pm

Driving Directions

Service

Thursday, February 22, 2018
10:00 AM EST
St. John Bosco
12170 Beech Daly
Redford Township, MI 48239

In state at 9:30 am until Mass Begins

Life Story / Obituary


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Stephanie Catherine Parker May 9, 1917 - February 19, 2018

Stephanie Catherine Parker, of Redford, experienced 100 precious years of life, until she went to be with the Lord on Feb. 19, 2018. Seventy-one of these years were spent with her treasured husband, Eugene Jerome Parker, until his death in 2009.

Stephanie’s story starts out in Poland, where her parents were raised. Her father, Stephen Ploch was born in 1886 and immigrated to the U.S. from Rzeszow, Poland when he was 21. Stephanie’s mother, Sophie, was born in 1889 and was orphaned at age 3, then emigrated from the same region as a teenager. They met in Detroit and married in 1909 at St Hedwig Church.

The Ploch family lived on Clayton Street in Detroit. Stephanie had a close bond with her sisters, Stella, Caroline and Helen. Without any brothers in the house, Stephanie was her dad’s special assistant. Stephanie helped her parents tend gardens that overflowed with beautiful flowers and vegetables and swept the little backyard barn where her father’s horse lived. The youngsters played stickball and jacks in the alley. Times were hard during the depression and her father hauled bricks and worked odd jobs with his horse and wagon while Stella got a job in a factory instead of finishing high school. Stephanie graduated eighth-grade at Our Lady Queen of Angels then graduated from Chadsey High School, where she met Eugene. One of Stephanie’s greatest accomplishments was helping her parents go through the process to become Naturalized U.S. Citizens.

Stephanie married Eugene Podsiad in 1937 at St Lawrence Church in Detroit. She always called him the love of her life. They moved onto Clayton Street, right across the street from the Ploch family. The couple enjoyed walking to movies or big band concerts on Michigan Avenue. Stephanie rode the street car around the city and to work, at R.L Polk where she was a stenographer. Eugene worked at Detroit Flower Growers. The couple welcomed daughter, Dolores, (Joseph Devyak) twins, Eugene Jr. (Karen) and Susan (Mark Sutton) and, youngest son, Daniel, (Carol).

After the children arrived, the family moved to St. Lawrence Street in Detroit. They walked to Mass together Sunday mornings at St. Cunegunda and enjoyed outings to Camp Dearborn, Belle Isle or Dairy Queen. The family started out listening to radio programs together in the evenings then soon gathered around a black and white television set to watch shows like Ed Sullivan and Gun Smoke. Each summer they spent a week out in the sun, vacationing in Ludington.

When her youngest turned two, Stephanie started working the night shift as a keypunch operator for Winkelman's. Her starting wage in 1952 was only 87-and-a-half cents per hour. Eugene began his long career at Detroit Public Schools. They Americanized their name from Podsiad to Parker. The couple scrimped and saved and moved to Sarasota Street in Redford around 1975. Stephanie retired in 1982 after working 30 years for Winkelman’s.

After retirement the couple had time to enjoy socializing. They were active in parish activities at St. Cunegunda and St. John Bosco Church, plus the Knights of Columbus Holy Cross Council. They helped organize activities with several senior groups and had a lot of fun with luncheons and bus trips around the state, especially those “mystery trips.” The closely-knit couple also took vacations and attended conventions at memorable destinations like Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Niagara Falls and Hawaii. They were big Detroit Lions fans and always had the Tigers baseball games on the radio.

More than anything, Stephanie and Eugene loved spending time with their grandchildren and prayed for them daily. Stephanie played games with the grandkids like scrabble or rummy, and got down on the floor to push around toy cars, or string together a barrel of monkeys. They hosted parties for every holiday and loved nothing more than watching their grandkids in soccer and baseball games, church events, musical concerts, plays and Polish dance. Loving grandkids are: James, Edward, Andrew (Pamela) and Stephen Parker (Amanda), Laura Muraszewski (Kevin), Carrie Stephanie Sysko (Stefan), Catherine Phillips (Brandon), Stephen Sutton, Joseph Jr. and James Devyak (Macy), Tracey and Andrea Parker, (Jeremy Hassler).

Stephanie loved talking with her many great-grandkids and laughed at every little smile they gave her. Even at age 100, Grandma would play “Go Fish” and dance “Ring Around the Rosie” with her great-grandkids and looked forward to meals at McDonald’s, Archie’s and Frank’s Restaurant with loved ones. Beloved great-grandkids are: Claire and Grace Sysko, Cass, Carter, Blade, Rex, Keira Joy and Aria Phillips, Phineas, Oona and Rue Sutton, Lilly, Eleanor and Joseph Muraszewski, Andrew, Christopher, Rosemary and Theodore Parker, Ethan, Eli, Abby and Michael Devyak.

Stephanie Catherine Parker, 100, passed away February 19, 2018. Loving wife of the late Eugene. Beloved mother of Dolores (Joseph Devyak), Eugene Jr. (Karen), Susan (Mark Sutton) and Daniel (Carol). A visitation will be held on Wednesday 3-8pm at Neely-Turowski Funeral Home 30200 Five Mile (Between Middlebelt and Merriman). A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Thursday 10:00 am/Instate 9:30am until Mass begins at St. John Bosco Parish Redford Township. To share a favorite memory and/or photo of Stephanie and to sign the online guestbook, please visit www.turowskilifestory.com

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