Fred Rybczynski
Some of My Erika Memories
Fred Rybczynski
09 October 2021
Erika touched our lives in many ways. Those touches left a memorable impression.
In my case, those touches began long ago. My earliest memory goes back to Germany in the early 1950’s when she worked at a small café-store that sold, among other things, soft ice cream. Erika would occasionally take some of her pay and purchase an ice cream cone for me. What a treat that was! In the 1960’s, she introduced our family to a homemade custard banana split dessert to which I was addicted for many years. Who didn’t look forward to her food contributions at the family reunions? Her famous sausage and sauerkraut dish, for example. She spoiled me. She spoiled all of us.
Erika was born in Germany and lived her first 15 years there. Although she graduated from high school in the USA, became a USA citizen, and lived the next 64 years here, she never totally lost her German accent. She worked as a dispatcher for United Parcel Service in the early 1960’s. Erika told me that the drivers routinely preferred talking with “the girl with the German accent”. I always loved the way she would say the word “chilly”, pronouncing it “shilly”. She always reacted with humor when teased about that. Her comebacks to me would typically start with “Listen Mister …”.
Erika was a wise woman with well-formed opinions. She’d share them with you if you asked. She shared some of them on Facebook. It was abundantly clear that the most important thing to her was family. As her obituary stated, she attended and participated in every family event.
She will be missed. She will forever be in our hearts.
