Mr. Edmund Strzepa

Edmund Strzepa, aged 91, of Dalton, passed away Monday, August 22, 2022. He was born in Chicopee, the son of Konstanty and Agnes Grzesik Strzepa on the Ides of March, March 15, 1931. He was educated in Chicopee schools, graduating from Chicopee High School in 1949, and then served a four-year apprenticeship program at General Electric Company in Pittsfield as a Plastics Moldmaker. Upon graduation, Edmund was drafted into the Army. After basic training at Fort Dix, he attended intermediate speed radio school, graduating second in his class. He served with the Engineers Battalion of the Third Army at Camp Stewart, Georgia, and was then reassigned to Headquarters Company of the 20th Field Artillery Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division, stationed in Hanau, Germany, at the Pioneer Kaserne, maintaining radio contact in a division network. Upon his honorable discharge he returned to General Electric which no longer had a Plastics Division tool room in Pittsfield and transferred to the Transformer Division, returning to school as a drafting trainee, where he became a detail draftsman. After a year as a draftsman, he took advantage of the GI Bill and left work and entered the University of Massachusetts. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1960, he worked at E.I. Dupont in Tonawanda, New York, at their cellophane manufacturing plant. He returned to Pittsfield and once again changed profession as he became a teacher in the Technical Curriculum of Pittsfield High School, obtaining his Teaching Certificate in Physics and Mathematics. He attended graduate classes at North Adams and Westfield State College, but never completed the work to attain a master’s degree. When the Technical Curriculum was being eyed as a non-necessary expense by the school committee, he returned to private industry as a Mechanical Engineer at General Electric Company in the Ordnance Department. While in the electro-mechanical design group, he reported to Don Robinson and worked on shipboard equipment and military vehicles. With transfers within the division, he also worked on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle transmission, guidance support equipment, and on the liquid propellant gun. In 1993 events caused him to alter his plans, and as General Electric sold the Ordnance Department to Martin Marietta, he took an early retirement from GE. He was a strong union man and at one time held honorary withdrawal cards from the IUE as a machinist, after as a draftsman, and the Teamster’s Union as a laborer from his days in college. After several years as the secretary of the General Electric Pensioners and Quarter Century Club, he became vice president and then president of the club. He was also the vice-president of the IUE 255/254 Retirees Union. He was a member of Post 155 of the American Legion in Dalton, and a member of the TRIAD Group in Dalton. He was also a long-time member of the traffic commission of Dalton, the fund-raising committee of Saint Agnes Church, a member of the Friends of the Dalton Free Public Library, a member of the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum, and a member of the Knights of Columbus, Columbia Council #411 in Dalton. He was a devout communicant of St. Agnes Church, and a Dalton volunteer fireman from 1968 through the 1970’s. A lifelong photography buff, he was the photographer at many family gatherings recording family history, leaving a body of work that included 20,000+ slides spanning 7 decades. He also had an interest in woodworking and built 50 odd wooden chests of his own design based on the Army footlocker which he gave to his children and many of his nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Several versions of his chest design exist as he continued to make improvements over time, but he and his wife never had one. He and his wife, Phyllis, loved to travel and made many bus trips to the Amish Country and casinos and other day trips wherever the bus took them. After his wife’s death, he continued to travel and made trips to Canada, several trips to England, Poland, Italy, Portugal, his children in Texas, Maryland, and Illinois, and was planning a trip to Alaska. He was predeceased by the love of his life, Phyllis Lombardi Strzepa, in 2011, after 52 years of marriage. He was also predeceased by his brother, Walter, in 2011, his two sisters, Jennie Leja, in 2000, and Millie Szafranski, in 2001, all of Chicopee. He is survived by four children, Peter of Austin, Texas, Marie Healy of Lusby, Maryland, Karen Coleman of Crystal Lake, Illinois, and David of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Also, he is survived by five grandchildren, Derek Strzepa and Blake Strzepa of Pittsfield, John Paul Paramski of Victoria, Texas, Kira Strzepa of Austin, Texas, and Loghan Strzepa of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Another grandchild, Matthew John Paramski, predeceased him in 1991. Additionally, he is survived by one brother, Chester, and a sister-in-law, Ann Makuch Strzepa, both of Chicopee, and by his wife’s siblings Shirley Connor of Ormond Beach, Florida, John A. Lombardi of Pittsfield, and Patricia Sherman of Schodack, New York, as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins. In his later years, his daughter Marie moved in to lovingly care for him as needed. In keeping with his thoroughness, Ed wrote his obituary, and his children are honoring his wishes and posting it in full here. Funeral Notice: Funeral services for Edmund Strzepa will be Friday, September 9, 2022, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10 am at St. Agnes Church, celebrated by the Rev. Christopher Malatesta, Pastor. Burial with full military honors will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery. Calling hours will be Thursday, September 8, 2022, from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Dwyer-Wellington Funeral Home, 220 East Street, Pittsfield MA 01201. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Agnes Church in Dalton, the Dalton Free Public Library, or the donor’s choice of charity.

Mr. Edmund Strzepa

March 15, 1931 - August 22, 2022