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The following story was written by Frances Danek, Pauline's daughter, and published in the Wisconsin Slovak Historical Society Autumn 2000 Newsletter:
Cheerful Pauline Janicek Born in Lysa pod Makytou in 1901
Pauline (Slamka) Janicek was born in Lysa pod Makytou, Slovakia (Northern Hungary at that time) to Andrew and Frances (Panak) Slamka on January 30, 1901, the second oldest of nine children -- all but Pauline now are deceased. During her years of schooling, the area was under Hungarian rule and she attended Hungarian schools. As young children, Pauline and her siblings were sent to work on the farm land of rich land owners, in the "repa" (beet fields) for the entire summer.
She met my father, Frank, at a village fair. He also was born in Lysa pod Makytou. Frank left for America for the first time at the age of 17 to make his life a little better. When he returned to visit his parents, Matthew and Johanna Janicek, they went to the local fair and, by chance, met my mother there. After a few months, he proposed marriage and she accepted. My parents married in May of 1922 at St. Stephen's Church in Lysa pod Makytou.
After marrying my mother, my father decided to go back to America to continue his job. At the time he was one of 16 workers at "Patrick Cudahy" and mentioned working side-by-side with Patrick Cudahy.
My mother then moved in with my father's parents until my father could save enough money to bring her over to America. However, it soon was necessary to bring two travelers to America. My mother had a son Anthony Janicek (deceased) and he was one-and-a-half years old when they came to America to join my father. They came to America on the German ship, Bremen. It took about two weeks on the ship, but she arrived safely on a train to Milwaukee, where Frank Malovec (a Cudahy tavern keeper) picked her up in his car with my dad at his side.
On December 25, 1925, my brother Joseph Janicek (now deceased) was born. He had served as the deputy assessor for the City of Cudahy until his death in 1980.
I, Frances Danek, was born on November 15, 1927 and am the only living child of my parents.
My mother had two slight strokes while living in Franciscan Villa, where she has been a resident since 1995. She is always in good spirits and has a very good
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