75 Genowefa Kowal

OXFORD___Genowefa (Ulinska) Kowal, 75, of Oxford passed away at St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester, on September 25, 2025. Born on January 21, 1950, in Ulanow, Poland, Gienia was the daughter of the late Bronislaw and Bronislawa (Ostrowska) Ulinski. With only a small suitcase and three dollars in her wallet, Gienia immigrated to America in 1969 aboard the TSS Stefan Batory, a Polish ocean liner bound for Montreal, Canada, before continuing by train to New York Penn Station and settling in Brooklyn (Greenpoint), NY. During the summer of 1973 on a return trip to Poland she met and married her husband, Jozef.

The happy couple purchased their first home in Worcester in 1980. In 1990 they left the city and moved first to rural Sutton and then to Oxford. Gienia worked for various factories in New York and Worcester before retiring from S.I. Howard Glass Co. after 26 years.

Gienia and Jozef enjoyed decades at their second home on Cape Cod in the town of Falmouth where they made countless memories with their family. Family time was filled with bonfires at Great Pond, soaking up the sun at Old Silver Beach, and shopping excursions. When not at the Cape, summer Sundays were spent on the beaches of Rhode Island. Special trips included visits with extended family in Poland as well as tropical destinations to Hawaii, Florida, and the Caribbean

The kitchen was Gienia's favorite place where she enjoyed cooking and baking for family and friends. She liked canning fruits and vegetables from her garden, making pierogi with her grandchildren, and baking kruche ciastka (shortbread cookies) at Christmas with her granddaughters.

A devout Catholic, Gienia was a faithful communicant of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Worcester and St. Patrick's in Falmouth. She was a member of the OLC Women's Guild where she spent countless hours in the church's kitchen making various Polish food for holiday sales and the yearly bazaar.

Gienia and Jozef celebrated their fifty-second wedding anniversary one month prior to her passing. In addition to Jozef, Gienia is survived by her daughter, Anna Kowal of Suffield, CT, daughter Lucille (Kowal) Reece and son-in-law Paul of Charlton, granddaughters Maja Rzecinski of Vernon, CT, Lilia Rzecinski of Boston, and Daisy Rzecinski of Suffield, CT, grandsons William and Owen Reece of Charlton, and granddog Coco, who loved Babci very much. Gienia also leaves behind her brother Bruno Ulinski and his wife Maria of Oxford and their family, as well as brothers Jan Ulinski and wife Pelagia, Franciszek Ulinski, sister Maria (Ulinska) Twarog and their families all of Poland plus extended family of the Ulinski and Kowal families throughout the world. Finally, Gienia leaves behind her husband's second wife, Misha the Cat. In addition to her parents, Gienia was predeceased by her sister Jadwiga Ulinska, sister-in-law Barbara Ulinska, brother-in-law Stanislaw Twarog, niece Barbara (Ulinska) Olak, and nephews Adam Ulinski, Gregory Ulinski, and Christopher Ulinski and members of the Kowal family.

The funeral will be held on Saturday Oct. 4, 2025 from HENRY – DIRSA FUNERAL HOME, 33 Ward Street, Worcester with a Mass at 10:00 A.M. in Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, 34 Ward Street, Worcester. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Garden of Peace Cemetery, Webster. Calling hours are Friday Oct. 3, 2025 from 4:00 to 7:00 P.M. in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of Czestochowa Renovation Fund, 34 Ward St., Worcester, MA 01610