Polish heritage as lived in our region will be a major feature in our 2025 programming. Our interest began several years ago, and now we are beginning phase 2 of our project. Come back to this space for news on this theme and more.
You are invited to join our interest group anytime.
Speakers at AFRAN’s annual meeting will be Robert Gruchala and Eugene StandingCloud. Robert is from Minto, ND and Eugene is from the Red Lake Chippewa Reservation.
I met Mr. Robert Gruchala for lunch in Minto, ND on January 23, 2025.
Over lunch as Bob talked, often in answer to a question, I noted what follows about his lifelong relationship with Polish and Polish American cultures.
Come hear Mr. Robert Gruchala talk at AFRAN’s 2025 annual meeting. See details at the end of this short article.
By the age of five when his parents moved from Fried, North Dakota, (Population perhaps 300 or less, near Jamestown) it seems that the urge to bike out onto the horizon of the prairie had already become one of Bob’s habits. The habit of biking off onto the horizon without his parents even aware that he was perhaps on his way to a neighboring village or just peddling along a gravel road also set the ground for independence and curiosity in Bob about the world even far beyond.
Bob moved about to live in various towns in the Red River Valley, first with his parents and then on his own to finally settle more definitively in Minto, North Dakota in 1982 where he and Mrs. Gruchala live today. But during that time of his life when he moved about, often motivated by curiosity or by invitation of others Bob stretched out and away from North Dakota yet never straying away from the direct contact he nurtured with Polish and Polish American cultures.
In the 1970s Bob enrolled as a college student in the Polish Alliance College located in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. “Founded in 1912 by the Polish National Alliance and dedicated by U.S. President William Howard Taft, Alliance College was one of the nation's first nationality colleges. Its mission was to provide educational opportunities for everyone, but especially to those of Polish descent. … Alliance College included Polish arts, language and history as part of its curriculum and campus culture until it closed in 1987.” (Google Alliance College)
In 1968, near the time when Bob was a student there, the college had an enrollment of 629 students. Bob majored in English which he later taught in Minto high school beginning in 1982 when he settled there. But before Bob settled into teaching in Minto he traveled and studied in Poland as a student. Setting aside money for travel during this time which he earned in various ways, Bob was able to return to Poland and other countries in Europe. Travel was once made possible through an invitation from a family in Warsaw, Poland. They had, of course, heard of Warsaw, North Dakota and had heard even of the young aspiring-to-know-more-lad of Polish descent who lived there. From Warsaw, Poland further friendships and trust in those he met led him to visit Norway and Denmark.
Thus, Mr. Robert Gruchala, camouflaged as an English teacher is much more than an isolated individual. He is part of two communities: a community he went out to meet and the community of Minto where he now lives.
The comment by Virgil which follows underscores why we (AFRAN and its members) aim to develop friendship and knowledge through the programs we sponsor, such as our annual meeting to which you and anyone else open are invited.
Too often people and places are no more than data in our lives. “Went there, done that.” Yet for others a bike ride, an invitation, a special educational experience, attachment to communities develop trust, knowledge and appreciation of others.
Come hear Bob tell of his sense of community, friendship and trust as he traveled within the nation of Poland and the Polish American communities he has known.
Place: Community Hall in Red Lake Falls, MN
Address: 201 Champagne Ave. SW Red Lake Falls, MN 56750
Date: Sunday March 16
Time: 11:30 lunch begins Free of charge
Door prizes and a fun time all the way along with fine food. Speakers follow lunch at 12:30 Donations and memberships are encouraged. Memberships and donations help us sponsor high quality programs, encouraging friendship through acquaintance and knowledge.
Give others the address of our website which is: oldcrossing.org
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