[aaus-list] Tymoteus Karpowicz house and papers Oak Park

[Mairead Whittaker]

Hello -- I am a resident on the block where Tymoteusz and Maria Karpowicz lived in Oak Park, Illinois.  I found your correspondence about the Karpowicz house and Tymoteusz's papers when I googled his name. (I am trying to find out where he and Maria were buried).  

When he died, alone, during a heatwave, the house was in a very simple condition -- I would not say it was in ruins.  The structure was sound, but it was sparsely furnished inside.  Tymoteusz was a very dedicated woodworker and gardener, despite having only one arm.  He had constructed an impressive fence around the garden, and grew fruits and vegetables there, as well as many flowers.  He had dug a system of irrigation trenches which kept everything well-watered.  Since Maria's death, however, the garden had become overgrown, and he rarely was seen outdoors.  

It was discovered after his death that he had made no will, and so the property (the lot and the house and its contents) became the property of Cook County, Illinois.  The Chancery Court administers property left behind by people who die without making a will.  For a while, the property lay untouched, with the garden becoming more and more overgrown.  Finally, maybe one or two years after Tymoteusz's death, the task of recovering the papers left in the house was started.  I believe that the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Department of Slavic and Balkan Literature may have alerted the Polish Consulate about the existence of the papers in the house, which was at the time under the control of the Chancery Court of Cook County.  The Polish Consulate recovered the papers, and I believe they were given to the UIC Slavic literature department.  The lot, with the house, was auctioned at a public auction, and was bought by neighbors, Victor and
 Nancy Guarino, and a couple who were friends of theirs, the Barnards.  They themselves fixed up and repaired the house, put in new bathroom fixtures, new kitchen cabinets and appliances, refinished the woodwork and floors, and repaired the wiring.  They put on new roofing shingles.  They levelled the garden, took down the fence, and removed all but two fruit trees from the lot.  At this point, I was able to salvage a good few plants -- lilies, ferns, spring bulbs, alpine strawberries.  I always loved the garden, and Tymoteusz and I used to chat sometimes in the evenings when I went out for a walk and found him watering.  I can remember him when I go out into my yard and see the flowers.

I hope this answers some questions about the fate of the papers and the house.  It was so sad that such a great poet, such a genius, should have died in isolation, even if he preferred it that way.  But his life was not the same after Maria died of cancer after a heroic struggle.  It was as if he really died when she did, and all that remained was for him to wait quietly for his turn to depart.

Mairead Whittaker







      
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