LEBANON — Almost every summer day during his retirement, Steve Marchewka would make the short trek up Prospect Hill to visit his sister’s blueberry patch.
Starting when he was 62, the lifelong Lebanon resident would mow the grass around the patches, cover them in nets to keep away the birds and — come high noon — gently pick through branches, plucking all the ripe berries to sell at a local store.
The irony of Marchewka — a World War II veteran and mechanic for 30 years — so delicately caring for berry plants, is not lost on a daughter, Jean LaBombard. But, she said, it’s just how her dad was: equal parts tough and gentle.
“He was tough in that his generation was tough. He never complained about aches and pains,” she said in an interview last week. But he had a strong caring and loving side as well.
“He had friends everywhere he went,” said daughter Ellen Bailey.
Marchewka died at his Lebanon home on Nov. 3 at 98 following a period of failing health.
Looking back on the full life of the Lebanon native, his three daughters, son and wife Madeleine have many memories that are rooted in the city and community he loved so much.
Marchewka was born in a house on Hanover Street, the son of Polish immigrants who passed down a love of all things Polish, especially the food: pierogi (dumplings), golumpki (ground meat wrapped in cabbage), and kielbasa. He graduated from Lebanon High School in 1940 and soon after, joined the Army as a private first class and later, crew chief on a B-29 bomber, said daughter Jean. His missions flying over the Himalayas helped earn him the Bronze Star for heroic service in a combat zone, according to his daughters.
It was his time working on planes in the Army that sparked a deep love of mechanics in the young Marchewka, and when he returned to the states he began working in various auto body shops before opening up his own, Steve’s Auto Body shop, which he ran for more than 20 years.
His hometown gave Marchewka another gift when he met Madeleine Tanguay, a fellow Lebanon High School graduate. She was a few years younger than Stephen Marchewka when they both attended high school, and said her first impressions of her future husband were a little tainted by his popularity as a star athlete.
“Girls would just swoon as he walked past,” Madeleine Marchewka said with a laugh, adding that the charm didn’t work on her at the time, partly due to what she thought was a gruff demeanor. “He was absolutely the sourest looking guy I ever met.”
But their paths crossed again years later when a mutual friend invited Madeleine out bowling with Marchewka. Initially, she said she was skeptical, remembering how he “never smiled” back in high school. But she agreed and the date sparked a romance that would last 75 years. She came to learn that Marchewka’s serious demeanor hid a loving interior.
“That was part of his charm,” she said.
The two, who were married in 1946 and raised a family together on Prospect Street in Lebanon, had a deeply loyal and loving relationship, said daughter Ann Marchewka.
“He was not a demonstrative person, but he had a tremendous capacity for loving his family,” she said, adding that her mother was the “love of (Marchewka’s) life … it was very evident to anybody.”
The love transferred to the children as well. As they grew up, the sisters said they recognized their father as a man of few words but one who was very good at listening and giving advice. He made furniture for the family — a favorite of theirs is a wood coffee table with a glass top — and spent hours “imparting life lessons” to his son John on the golf course, LaBombard said.
“He really got the subtleties of life and relationships,” Ann Marchewka said.
Marchewka’s ability to easily befriend and understand people stretched beyond his most close-knit groups to the larger Lebanon community.
Starting in the 1970s and lasting for 10 years, their mother and father would invite friends and neighbors around the city to an annual party they would throw at the Carter Country Club, where Marchewka was a longtime member. The party, which included a Polish orchestra and polka dancing, would pay homage to Marchewka’s heritage, his daughters said.
Madeleine Marchewka and Stephen’s sisters would fold over pierogi stuffed with filling, cook golumpki, and fry kielbasa for the 100 attendees who eagerly awaited the summer event. In the hours before the event, LaBombard remembers her father “running around,” checking that the band had equipment, making sure the decorations were in order, and peeling potatoes or slicing cabbage with his sisters and wife.
The event quickly grew so big that the couple had to start passing out tickets, LaBombard said.
“People would ask for tickets six to seven-months in advance,” Bailey added.
While it was a large undertaking for nearly a decade, it was only one of several ways that Marchewka gave back to the city he loved so much.
In recent years, the retired veteran had swapped large Polish-inspired gatherings for a simpler, and once again, more delicate gift to the community: chocolates.
“During this time of year — starting in November — I just planned to not do much cooking in my kitchen,” Madeleine Marchewka said, remembering her husband’s latest favorite tradition of making chocolates for the neighbors.
The hobby started soon after his retirement when Marchewka saw his daughter, Ellen Bailey, making chocolate in the kitchen with her children.
“Oh, I can’t do that,” he told her. “My hands are too big.”
But she urged him to give it a try and, almost instantly, he was hooked. It started out small — some gifts of chocolate truffles to friends and neighbors — and grew as did Marchewka’s love of chocolate making. Soon, his children were joining him in the efforts, even traveling to candy supply stores around the state to buy over 30 pounds of chocolate a year.
In the weeks before Christmas, Marchewka would spend hours bent over the stove, with all four burners cooking down different chocolates. He would fill each truffle with an assortment of flavors; peanut butter, and a peppermint that Madeleine said would “knock your socks off” were some of his favorites.
“I enjoyed doing it. … I’ve got a lot of time, but I like to use it up,” Marchewka said of the chocolate making hobby in an interview with the Valley News in 2015.
In the days leading up to the holidays, Marchewka would pass out the chocolates around Lebanon, to friends, relatives and family members.
“He would give them to the waitress at the truck stop … to the guy who sold him a stove,” Bailey said. “He didn’t want to leave anyone out.”
In the pain that is Marchewka’s absence, his children have decided to honor his memory, especially around his favorite holiday season. Days before Christmas this year they packed boxes full of chocolates and delivered them to homes around Lebanon in memory of their dad.
At one house, Jean LaBombard recalled meeting a man who pulled out an empty box of chocolates — the same one her father had given him the year before — with tears welling in his eyes. For LaBombard, the reaction wasn’t surprising.
“He always had a way of finding the good in everyone,” she said. “He was amazing at that.”
Marchewka had one last gift to impart on the community through his family. Following his death in November, the family started the Steve Marchewka Scholarship Fund, to help Lebanon High School graduates who are going into trade professions.
“He was always there for that person who wanted to learn and go to the next step,” said Ann Marchewka. “This is one way we could help continue his legacy.”
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
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