Posted: Aug. 25, 2009

The Sussex Village Park lower playground was discussed in last week's Retrospect, specifically the efforts in 1983 to recognize the contributions of the Podolske family, resulting in the 1992 dedication of the playground in their name.

The following history of the Podolske family outlines why they were so important to the Sussex community and particularly the park.

George Podolske (1892-1976) came to Sussex in 1915 to do tin work at the new Malsch Furniture Store on Main Street. A short time later he started a tin shop and hardware store across from the Main Street School. It became a fixture in the community, operating for 51 years (1915-1966).

George was a charter member of the Sussex Fire Department, serving for 33 years. He was the second chief, elected first in 1923 then again for a second term in 1928.

The very same group that started the fire department in 1924 petitioned to combine and incorporate the adjacent villages of Sussex and Templeton as the Village of Sussex. George was one of the prime movers behind this, and one of the 16 incorporation signers. He proceeded to serve for many years on the Sussex Village Board as a trustee.

He was also a prominent half-century member of the local Ashlar Lodge. In 1939 he was one of the founding members of the Sussex Lions Club and served as its second president (1940-41). In his declining years, he was a charted member of the Sussex Golden Agers who evolved into the Sussex/Lisbon Senior Citizen Club, serving as its first president.

Raymond Podolske (1917-1991) was the son of George Podolske. He was born and raised in Sussex, attending Sussex's Main Street grade and high school before finally graduating from Waukesha High School in 1935.

During World War II, he was in the U.S. Army Air Force as an officer, flying as a navigator of a B-17 bomber. His plane was shot down over Germany, and he became a prisoner of war for 18 months. He married a local girl, Isabelle Benson, on July 18, 1945, only weeks after he was let out of the German prisoner of war stockade.

After returning to Sussex, he took up his life work as a plumber at his father's Podolske Hardware Store. He helped found the Sussex Horne-Mudlitz VFW Post 6377 in 1946, and he is considered one of the three founding members. He continued to be a member for 45 years.

Ray joined the Sussex Fire Department and was a member for 29 years, serving as secretary-treasurer for over a decade. He was elected to several terms as village trustee, besides serving on untold various village committees and boards. In February 1958, he was chairman of the Sussex Public Works Committee.

Ray made the suggestion that the village think of purchasing a centrally-located, fairly large piece of land for a park. This suggestion was acted on by the board, under then-president Roy Stier. In August 1958, the Kufalk-Marsden-Moyes 78-acre farm was purchased for the Sussex Village Park for the sum of $36,088.17, with Podolske one of the seven voting for the expenditure. It was a unanimous board decision, despite a petition signed by more than 200 people opposed to the park purchase.

In his declining years, Ray served as the village building inspector before he retired.

Isabelle Podolske (1922-1983), the wife of Ray, came to the Sussex community with the influx of Swedish stone cutters during the late 1920s. Motherless, the little Isabelle Benson was cared for by her father until his death at an early age. Her landlord Shirley Morgan took her in as her daughter. She lived across the street from her future husband, in a home where the Associated Bank is today. She lived from Red Cross letter to Red Cross letter when her boyfriend Ray was captured in late 1943. Soon after his release from the German POW camp, Isabelle and Ray were married and had four children: Elaine, Larry, Ralph and Janet.

Isabelle was extremely active in the local community, being a perennial volunteer. She served for many years on the Sussex Park & Recreation board, rising to the rank of president. She is credited with starting many of the current programs that are part of the annual activities in the parks.

She became involved locally and at the state level in the American Red Cross, helping form the Gray Ladies school nursing program at Maple Avenue School.

In 1951, she was a co-founding member of the Sussex VFW Auxiliary, serving as president for three years.

At the time of her sudden death, she was the Sussex area representative on the State Department on Aging.

Ray and Isabelle are buried in St. Alban's Cemetery, and the Sussex Lions, VFW and VFW Auxiliary paid for the marker sign.

All four children graduated from Hamilton High School, with Elaine and Larry participating in the very first classes. Elaine was an outstanding student. Janet was part of the 1979 Hamilton class that sent a team to the state basketball tournament, with Janet being a prominent member of the group. Earlier she had been a key original and longtime member of the nationally famous Sussex Robinettes Drum and Bugle Baton Corp.

Today the only Podolske left with Sussex ties is Larry, who is a director for the Sussex Baseball Club's Land O' Lakes team. A few years ago his son, David, was an outstanding main pitcher and league all-star for the Sussex team until an injury sidelined him.

Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Feb. 20, 2009

Village of Sussex – - Village of Sussex – Village Park will not become Sussex Lions Park.

The Village Board last Tuesday voted down that request from the Sussex Lions Club on a 5-2 vote, but also recommended that the new $30,000 electronic sign the Lions are donating for the park entrance at Weaver Drive display the club's name in large letters.

The Lions originally requested approval of the name change from the Sussex Park Board, which recommended against it, despite an informal poll that turned up 42 who favored the name change, 24 who opposed it and 18 who didn't care.

Village Trustee Jason Wegner, who is also a Lions Club member, objected to the Park Board's equation of "don't care" votes with no votes, making the results appear to come out as a 42-42 tie.

Trustee Claire Bletcher, who also sits on the Park Board, said the informal poll was not conducted to come up with a majority vote for or against the idea, but just to see if there were strong feelings on the issue or an overwhelming consensus one way or the other.

"You can't draw any great conclusion from it," she said.

At least one opponent of the name change also objected to the process – not the Park Board's, but the village president's.

Former Village President Mike Knapp didn't like the way Tony Lapcinski, who ousted him from the village presidency in an election two years ago, handled the issue.

"The place to discuss this is at a Village Board meeting," he said, "not through e-mails."

Knapp will try to take his old post back from Lapcinski in the April general election.

Sussex Lions Club President Erik Olsen said the club needed the recognition that renaming the park would provide to help recruit younger members to the club.

In an interview Monday, he said he was "disappointed they decided not to (rename the park), to recognize all we've done for the village and the park over the years.

"We used to do things behind the scenes for the first 60 years or so we've existed – word-of-mouth was enough in those days – but if we continue to do things that way, we'll die out."