Valentine’s Day. A day to celebrate romantic love with cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts. A day of expressing “young love.” Finding just the right gift, to send just the right message. Hoping that the focus of your affection will remember you or accept your token of love.
But what happens when it all goes as planned and the one you love loves you? What happens after the courtship, if I may use such an antiquated word, after your together life begins? After the plans change and the hot coals of romance, become the glowing embers that keep you warm?
This year for Valentine’s Day, we celebrate not the coals, but the embers. The love that endures “for better or for worse.” We take an intimate look at a couple and how their love has thrived for over 50 years. While their story is unique, many others have gone down a similar road. At the same time, they stand out as an example of what it takes for love to persevere including having fun in bed, maybe watching content like live cams at ehocams.com. They stand out as examples of what Valentine’s Day can really mean.
If not for a small Pennsylvania college with a Polish heritage, Judy Pomianoloski and Chris Paprocki probably would have never met. After the Cambridge Springs Halloween parade in 1960, they went on their first date. The rest is history, which includes 51 years of marriage. Chris and Judy’s chemistry extended to their respective college roommates who also dated, married, and have remained their close friends.
Judy chuckled, noting the odds were in her and her roommate’s favor at Alliance College. Originally a college founded by the Polish National Alliance Insurance Company for WWI enlistees, it attracted mostly male students. “My freshman year there were 22 girls to 200 guys,” said Judy.
Chris majored in biology and then transferred to Indianapolis to attend Lincoln Chiropractic College. To be closer to Chris, Judy transferred to Ball State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in education. A month after her graduation, they married December 28, 1963, in her hometown, Hallandale, Florida. With cans tied to the car and rocks in the hubcaps, Judy and Chris traveled to Ft. Lauderdale for their honeymoon.
Their Move to Johnson County
Returning to Indianapolis, the Paprockis lived in an apartment at Pennsylvania and 24th Street. Chris started his chiropractic career in 1964 while Judy taught at School 2 for Indianapolis Public Schools. Two years later Chris opened his private practice in Whiteland, CC Paprocki DC. In September 1968, Judy began teaching at Greenwood Middle School (GMS). Since 1966, they’ve lived on Fry Road. “When we first moved here, we weren’t considered part of the city of Greenwood. We were in Whiteland Schools,” said Judy.
Chris and Judy bought their ranch house new from John Boner, who had owned the property since the 1950s. Their nine-tenths of an acre extends next to the creek and west of their shared neighborhood drive. Six years after their daughter Anne was born, they remodeled the kitchen and added a laundry room. Soon their son Michael was born in May 1977. Eleven years later, they added a sunroom, which according to Judy, “cost as much or more than the house did in 1966.”
Since moving to Greenwood, they have attended Our Lady of Greenwood Catholic Church and have been active in the greater community. During Chris’ career, he was president of the Indiana State Chiropractic Association, received the Fellow of the International College of Chiropractors (FICC) degree and served on the Indiana State Board of Health for 18 years as well as receiving numerous awards.
When Judy began teaching at GMS, she taught reading. However, she spent most of her career in eighth grade language arts. Having approximately 150 students per year, Judy estimated she’s taught almost 4,000 Greenwood students. “The best part of teaching was probably some of the special students I’ve had,” said Judy. She retired in 1997 as the Language Arts Department Head while Chris retired in 2004.
Their Retirement Years
Chris and Judy enjoy traveling, having taken a dozen cruises to various places such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Panama Canal and Scandinavia. Judy’s favorite was the two-week cruise in 2006 touring Italy, France, Croatia, Barcelona and Greece. In the U.S., they have traveled out west four times and toured the northeast visiting Maine and Cape Cod. A frequent destination is Florida where their daughter and her family now live and where Judy grew up.
When they’re home, Chris works part-time at his former practice, seeing patients Monday and Saturday mornings. He enjoys cooking and grocery shopping. When cooking Chris likes to make large quantities, so leftovers can be frozen and used later. Chris’ culinary expertise extends to cooking for groups. Currently he caters meals for eight military widows. “I started cooking when I was 8 because Mother had to go to the hospital,” he said. “I cooked for my father and sister and have been cooking ever since.”
Judy added, “He doesn’t like my cooking. I just make desserts and salads.” City chicken, breaded pork chops and stuffed cabbage rolls are among Chris’ specialties. Not all meals are cooked at home. Sundays Judy and Chris typically eat breakfast out and enjoy frequenting a local pub on Monday nights.
Typically, Chris and Judy vacation in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they stay in an RV park. Their activities include golfing, dancing and visiting the beach. Judy also enjoys crafts, art fairs and the park’s swimming pool. Another benefit is the day trips to visit friends and family.
Their Shared Heritage
Chris and Judy celebrate their rich Polish heritage. Judy smiled when recalling her mother say she started WWII because she left Warsaw the day before the Germans invaded. Also proud of his Polish heritage, Chris is second generation American. For 40 years, he has enjoyed cooking the traditional Polish Wigilia Christmas Eve meal featuring fish, pierogi, split pea or mushroom soup, cabbages and beans. From 1992 to 2004, Chris cooked the Dingus Day Dinners after Easter for the Knights of Columbus.
Through these traditions, they have instilled in their four grandchildren – ranging from 11 to 22 in age – a love for the Polish people. In fact, Judy believes shared heritage has strengthened their family. “I think having the same traditions, like the Wigilia Feast, help a marriage,” said Judy, who wants to revisit Warsaw and Krakow in 2015 along with touring Budapest and Prague for the first time.
After surviving tough years such as 2002-2003 when Chris suffered a stroke and 2011 when Judy flunked her stress test, resulting in a triple bypass surgery, both hope their stable health continues into 2015.
In reflection, they have advice for husbands and wives. “Give each other room and cultivate your own hobbies,” said Chris.
“Don’t smother each other, and enjoy each other’s differences,” said Judy.
However, when planning trips, Chris defers to Judy. “I want to do the same thing she wants to do. That’s why we’ve been married 51 years.”
