Laura Wojciechowski
Laura Wojciechowski, who came to the United States from Belarus as a teenager and made Sag Harbor her home for more than 50 years, died of a stroke on July 9 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Tucson. She was 84.
Ms. Wojciechowski was one of five children born to Francesca and Michael Lazarewicz, on June 15, 1934, in Kobzevichi, a village near Minsk. She came to this country in the 1940s as a displaced person traveling with relatives, settling in Sag Harbor in 1949. Two years later, she met Vincent Wojciechowski, the man who would become her husband, at a Sag Harbor delicatessen near St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. They married three months later, in early 1952, and raised four children. He died more than 60 years later, in 2016.
Ms. Wojciechowski was a consummate homemaker who loved taking care of her family. During the summer, she was known for entertaining friends and relatives in her backyard, barbecuing and talking politics. In winter, she enjoyed helping her husband make chicken and tomato soups, recipes that became a family tradition.
She also worked for many years as a housekeeper for John McCulloch in East Hampton. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to South Carolina, to be near their daughter Teresa Matthews.
On the South Fork, she was an active member of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor and Our Lady of Poland Catholic Church in Southampton.
After her husband died, she moved in with her son Peter Wojciechowski and his wife, Vicki, living first in Melbourne, Fla., before recently moving to Tucson.
She is survived by her children, Josephine Vroman of Welches, Ore., Ms. Matthews of Fort Mill, S.C., David Wojciechowski of Carlsbad, Calif., and Peter Wojciechowski of Tucson. Seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren also survive.
In celebration of her life, the family welcomed visitors on July 16 to the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A Mass of Christian burial was said by the Rev. Chris Kaucha on July 17 at Our Lady of Poland. It was followed by burial at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Cemetery in Southampton.