BERENICE BRUSNIAK
Berenice Brusniak, 96, passed away on July 18, 2018. She was born on April 28, 1922 to Simon and Sophia Spolnik in Pobich, Poland, which later became part of Ukraine. During the Second World War, she was impressed into forced labor to help cook for occupying German soldiers after Poland was invaded. She clandestinely stole food from them and took it to Jews who were in hiding. She was suspected of this activity by the Gestapo but avoided arrest when the Gestapo agents themselves were killed. She narrowly escaped death on multiple occasions. She was subsequently forcibly taken into Germany to help on a farm. After the war, unable to return home as a result of resettlements brought about by the Soviets, she immigrated to the United States in 1949. In 1951, she married John Brusniak, who was also a war refugee from Poland. She worked for nine years for the Sisters of Divine Providence as a nurse’s aide at the Convent hospital during the 1950s. The Sisters became her extended American family. She spoke five languages: English, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and German. She was known as a great seamstress, baker and cook and for her kindness and sense of humor. She had a tender heart for all animals. Stray cats knew they could always count on a meal if they came her way. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband. She is survived by her son John Brusniak Jr. of Dallas, Texas, his wife Dara and grandchildren, Stephen, Joseph, Denise, Jonah, Lauren and Jeffrey, by her son Leon Brusniak of Seattle, Washington, his wife Mi-Youn, and grandchildren, Sophie and Benjamin, and by her son, Mark Brusniak of Round Rock, Texas. Visitation will begin on Friday, July 20, 2018 at 9:00 AM at the Annunciation Chapel at Our Lady of the Lake Convent with the Rosary to be recited at 10:00 A.M. Funeral Mass will be offered immediately following the rosary at 10:30 A.M. also in the Annunciation Chapel. Entombment will follow at San Fernando Archdiocesan Cemetery No.2.