52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks: Planes

8 August 1958 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Reverently, he touched the airline tickets and passport on his dresser. He had not been home in nearly 50 years. Whom would he know when he finally arrived? Who would rush out to hug him? For that trip back to his homeland, he would go alone just as he had come here to this land…alone.

This trip would be different from his first: he had come here by ship with a ticket in steerage. He had little money in his pockets. Now for this excursion, he would be flying with a ticket in coach. He would be carrying travelers checks to pay for all the souvenirs he planned to bring back.

In just a few hours, he would arrive in New York City at Idlewild Airport to take the first leg of his journey back to his native country. His daughter and grandsons were taking him to see him safely off with best wishes for safe travel. He had never flown before.

Reverently, he opened his newly obtained passport and read his name: Frank Slabik. He saw his picture…my, how he had changed in that almost 50 years. Back then, he had recorded his name on the ship’s manifest as Franciszek Slabik. He was an American citizen now as his passport stated. He would be returning to his native country of Poland.

In just a few hours, he would be boarding a KLM airlines plane with flight to Amsterdam. He would make a connection and land in Poland. In the time he had been away, his beloved motherland had suffered from two world wars. Would anyone and anything look familiar?

As he descended the staircase of his daughter’s home, he carried his suitcase along with the precious tickets and passport. It was time to leave for Idlewild and the city. Just as he left Poland in 1912, he felt that same anxiousness now…that same longing for the traveling to the unknown. He was taking his first flight…a flight back to his family and roots.

Note: My grandfather Frank Slabik went back to Poland in 1958 for a visit to his hometown in the Carpathian Mountains. He reported that he gloried in the telling of his life in America and in his adopted city of Philadelphia. It brought tears to his eyes in the relating to us about his trip.