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Stanislaw Godzisz was born in 1942 in Rozlopy near Zamosc. He is married and has three children and grandchildren. He immigrated to Canada with his wife in 1959 and settled first in Galt (today’s Cambridge) and, later, in Grimsby. From 1962 until he retired 40 years later, he worked for the Hamilton Division of STELCO. He completed his education at Mohawk College, obtaining the necessary qualifications. As a Senior Engineering Technician, he was accepted into the ranks of The Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologies. For 18 years, he had a leadership position in the electro-mechanic department.
As a retiree, he continued to be actively involved in the volunteer work of various Polish organizations.
In 1959, almost from the beginning of his stay in Canada, he joined the Youth Alliance of PAC Branch 4 in Kitchener and, in 1975, became a member of PAC Branch 22 in Grimsby.
He filled many positions in this organization, helping to maintain the Polish Place Polonaise centre during his free time. At the PAC General Assembly in Brantford in 1989, he was elected President of the PAC Head Executive Board. A period of Stanislaw Godzisz’s intensive volunteer work began when he became President of the biggest Polish organization in Canada.
1989 was an important year for Poland and for the Polish community worldwide. Dreams of a free Poland became realizable. At the time, the PAC Head Executive Board announced a “Solidarity” Election Fund in The Alliancer. Over $20 000.00 were collected, and the cheque was presented in Toronto on November 12, 1989, to Polish President Lech Walesa, who was in Canada for his first official visit.
The PAC Head Executive Board did not ignore the plea for help in building the Particular Care Orphanage in Glogow, by organizing a fundraiser for this noble cause. The great Polish-Canadian initiative of creating and maintaining the Polish History Department at the University of Toronto was also supported by organizing a raffle.
Being President of the PAC Head Executive Board, Stanislaw Godzisz supported cultural work on the grounds of Place Polonaise in Grimsby. Famous Polish actors went there, and concerts, theatrical productions, poetic and musical evenings, parties, picnics and banquets took place there. The President’s wife was particularly helpful and was, at the time, the director of Place Polonaise.
The PAC Head Executive Board under the direction of Stanislaw Godzisz purchased a farm in Port Hope, which was to serve the entire Alliance in the future. Plans to cultivate the land, to expand it, and to create a cultural centre there were developed. After nearly 70 years of inexistence, PAC Branch 9 in Scarborough was reestablished and was supposed to maintain the farm in Port Hope. A fire in the building in 1992 destroyed these dreams. Stanislaw Godzisz’s Head Executive Board decided to expand the property on Bloor Street West, which contained a prospering travel agency, The Alliancer’s publishing house, a bookstore, and offices of the Head Executive Board and The W. Reymont Foundation. The first step of this ambitious attempt was accomplished. A professional architectural company designed the expansion plan, and the ground was examined.
Unfortunately, the plans remained only on sheets of paper, since the work of subsequent Alliance governments led first to the closing of the travel agency and, later, to the loss of the entire property on Bloor Street West in Toronto.
An important part of President Godzisz’s work was regular contact with Alliance branches via visits, as well as encouraging them to work towards maintaining Polish character in far-off places in Ontario (Fort Frances, Red Lake, Wawa, and Thunder Bay). Documentation of the Alliance’s wealth was also conducted during this time.
Plentiful representation of the PAC in the Congress was also supposed to strengthen the entire organization, while sending youths to Rome for courses organized by the Lublin Catholic University were supposed to prepare future Alliance volunteers and to entice them to volunteer in this organization.
Stanislaw Godzisz stopped being a member of the PAC in 1995 and did not return to it until 2006.
He did not stop his volunteer work in the Polish community. In 1996, he became a member of Polish National Union Branch 17 in Burlington and vice-president of the PNU Head Executive Board, as well as Secretary of the Canadian Polish Congress Hamilton Division.
Since 2006, he has also filled the position of General Secretary of the Canadian Polish Congress Head Executive Board. For seven years, he has actively been working in the Marie Curie-Sklodowska Polish Seniors’ Hall Building Committee by helping to collect funds for this cause and to construct the building, which will serve the community in the Hamilton area in the future.
Noteworthy is the fact that, in 1987, Stanislaw Godzisz received the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation. This medal was given to him by Senator Stanley Haidasz on behalf of the Governor General of Canada during the PAC’s 80th anniversary celebrations.
