Dyer woman had a sharp mind

Wanda Dabrowski grew up in Gary and met her husband of 66 years, Stanley, while they were still in grade school.

"They were a year apart" at St. Hedwig's School, said daughter Evelyn Mustanski, of Eden Prairie, Minn.

Wanda Dabrowski attended Froebel High School, where she played violin in the school orchestra.

"It was a traveling orchestra that competed across the United States," son Stanley said. "She and (other players) were always fighting over No. 1 chair; it was a big deal. She'd be No. 1 chair, then someone else would, then she'd be again."

Dabrowski, 96, of Dyer, died Jan. 28. She was a homemaker and mother of four who was active in American Legion Auxiliary Unit 207, Madame Curie Circle PNA Lodge 3134 and Daughters of Isabella and PWA Queen of Peace Lodge 815. At various times she was a member of St. Stephen Martyr Church, Merrillville, St. Hedwig Church, Gary, and St. Cecilia Choir.

"She was a little bit on the shy side; her friends were all people she'd grown up with," her son said. She and her lifelong friends took part in two Bunco Clubs over 50 years. She also took part in a pinochle club.

Dabrowski's children remember her sharp mind.

"She taught herself to crochet. She was a perfectionist," her daughter said. "If she found a mistake," she would rip that work out and start again. She crocheted dresses for Mustanski and her sister, Marianne, when they were small. She also crocheted bedspreads and doilies and gave them away as gifts.

Dabrowski took pride in the 30 to 40 African violets she kept on her window sills. She enjoyed books by Sidney Sheldon and Agatha Christie. She averaged a couple of books a week, her kids said.

And there was her cooking: "I was lucky enough to get her recipes," son Stanley said. Dabrowski had recipes that dated to the 1920s, obtaining them from Italian restaurants that were open during that time.