Diane Szygiel Owad, of Southampton, formerly of Levittown and New Hope died peacefully on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, at Southampton Estates. She was 90.

She was the beloved wife of the late Jan Szygiel and John Owad.

She is survived by her five sons Lester and Darlene (Trapani) Szygiel of Bensalem, Stanley and Sharon (Lombardi) Szygiel of Doylestown, Jas and Annette (Mouthaan) Szygiel of Chalfont, Richard and LeeAnn (Hanf) Szygiel of Levittown and Edward Szygiel of Mt. Laurel, NJ.  She is also survived by her seven grandchildren and one great-grandson. Jesse Szygiel, Lauren (Szygiel) and Marco De Paulis, Jason Lombardi, Stefan and Samantha (Levy) Szygiel, Andrzej Szygiel, Chelsea Szygiel, Ricky Szygiel and great grandson, Cassius Lombardi. 

Her family will receive relatives and friends from 10:00 AM  to 12:00 Noon, on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at the Joseph A. Fluehr III Funeral Home, 241 East Butler Ave. (at Sandy Ridge Rd.) New Britain, PA 18901. Her interment will follow in Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine Cemetery, Doylestown.  

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to ACTS Legacy Foundation, c/o Southampton Estates, 238 Street Road, Southampton, PA 18966, attn. Lisa Conte 

 "My Story" 

I was born in a small town in Poland which is now part of the Ukraine. I was the oldest of four children. I had two brothers and a sister. At the start of WWII, in 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the east and Russia invaded from the west. In February, of 1940, very late one evening my family was rousted by Russian soldiers (NKVD). They ordered us out of our home.  They declared we are being moved to Siberia. They loaded us onto horse riding sleds and took us to the railroad station and put us on the freight trains.

The conditions on the trains were horrendous. There were wooden benches covered with straw and a small coal stove on the floor. It was very cold, with snow everywhere. Every so often, the door would slide open and we would be given some thin gruel and bread and a small piece of coal for the stove. It was a very long journey traveling deep into the wilderness, all you could see was snow and woods.

When we arrived at the camp, everything was frozen. Our housing was infested with bugs. The adults were sent into the forest to work, cutting and hauling trees and other manual labor. The children were sent to the village school without proper winter clothing or food. My poor mother had no food to cook. All they gave us was a slice of black bread and some watery soup, once a day. It didn’t take long for the older people and children to get sick and in many cases die. 

After nearly two years, amnesty was granted to Polish citizens that were victims of the USSR’s invasion of Poland. The Polish Army was being organized in the Uzbekistan region. We were put on trains again.  It was going to be another long journey from snow covered Siberia to Uzbekistan. During this journey our trains would stop from time to time to let people come and go at certain places and get food supplies for the day, but you had to wait in line to get it.  During this trip my five year old sister got very sick with Typhoid fever. My mother had to stay with her. I had to go find food. I was the oldest sibling. By the time I came back, our train was gone. I was now separated from my family. They didn’t keep good records of names and families or which trains they were on.  And I didn’t know the number of the train anyway. The area was Tashkent. I tried to get help at the train station office but nobody could help. It happened to be New Years Day. Frozen and hungry, with no place to go, I joined the other lost children. We slept in empty wagons or in stalls at neighboring farms. We ate food made for the cattle, it was all roughage from oats and corn. It was so dense, we had to soak it in water. Since there was no water, we had to break pieces of ice and melt it in our mouths.

After a few days, a train pulled into the station and it was carrying Polish soldiers. They opened the doors and were tossing cans of food to us. The station was loaded with many displaced people. I got close to the doors and told the soldiers I was Polish with no family. One of the soldiers had listened to me and picked me up, and put me in their train car. They helped me and took me to their camp. They scrubbed me down due to my clothes being full of lice. They had no clothing for a small girl but they did give me a shirt and sweater that went down to my ankles.  After a few days, one of their supply men made me a little uniform; this man eventually became my father-in-law. They even had a teacher help me with my schooling. While there I was hospitalized with Typhoid fever. When it was time for the Polish Army to move to Persia and Iraq, they placed me with other orphaned civilians and I was sent to Persia. I was supplied with a summer uniform and sandals. The temperature was in the 100’s and the mosquitos were unbearable, but it was better than the cold of Siberia and we had food. Still, people were dying from Dysentery and other diseases. I ended up contracting malaria. 

From Persia, we went to another camp, until finally, under British Order, they built camps in India, near Karachi. The camps held thousands of families and orphans. We had schools, churches, hospitals, and cafeterias. This became home for the next few years. We were taken good care of. But, unfortunately there was no family life, no mother, father or brothers and sister. While there I was able to finish high school and one year of college. I was now an adult and It was time to move on.

Many of went to England and lived with house mothers to help us with our transition. Within a short time, I met the man I would marry. He was a Polish soldier named, Jan Szygiel, the son of the man who made me my little soldier's uniform all those years ago. We lived in England for a few years. My first son, Lester was born there. We were thinking about returning to Poland, but my husband’s family was going to America, so we followed them.

Once we got to America, we had a bit of a rough time with finding proper housing and with language barriers. My husband soon found good work in Levittown, PA. And we built our home there. Our family grew. We now had five sons. Lester, Stas, Jas, Rick and Ed. The boys enjoyed working with their father during the summer and weekends. When my husband suddenly passed away at age 60, four of my sons took over the business and created a very successful company. My other son started a successful graphic design and art business.

I was a widow for five years, and during that time I worked for Cybis Porcelain as a detail artist for their limited edition porcelain items.  I met my second husband, John Owad, who was also Polish, and served in the United States Marine Corps. We had 20 great years together in New Hope, PA. We travelled and went to numerous Marine Corps reunions around the country. 

After John passed I moved to Southampton Estates, a peaceful and caring community. I have made many new and cherished friends. I am fortunate enough to enjoy my family that includes five sons and their wives, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.