Podolske playground, Sussex Village Park
Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Aug. 18, 2009
During the Sussex Lions Daze Festival in 1992, the lower playground of Sussex Village Park was named for a family important to both Sussex and the park. The Podolske family was well-known in Sussex from 1915 until the late 1980s when the members moved away.
The Sussex Park Board recognized the contribution of the extended Podolske family and authorized the lower playground to be named the “Podolske Playground, George, Ray, Isabelle Podolske.” A historical marker and naming sign was put up courtesy of the Sussex VFW, Auxiliary and the Sussex Lions Club. It has been moved slightly over the years, and today it is on a playground fence facing the entrance to the south. The remaining Podolske family members who formerly called Sussex home gathered for the dedication of the marker in July 1992.
When Isabelle Podolske died in 1983, there was a discussion by the Sussex Park Board during one of its monthly meetings to consider naming the Village Park lower playground after her. The idea was forgotten until former park board leader Terri Bernhardt remembered the extended conversation and contacted current members of the board to reconsider, so there would be some way to honor the Podolske family for their contributions to the community and the park. Bernhardt’s memory was jogged by the Nov. 25, 1991, death of Isabelle’s husband, Ray.
At the recent Sussex Lions Daze celebration, many children played on the lower park toy complex just off Weaver Drive, between the softball field and the upper park open-air Lions shelter building. The kids were attracted to the estimated $70,000 worth of playground equipment that fills the semi-fence-protected area, also heavily shaded by massive trees. At one time, this area was the edge of a big swamp that covered what is the lighted diamond, central field and adjacent lower parking lot today.
The park, once 78 acres, was purchased in 1958 by the Village of Sussex for about $37,000 and slowly became a major park for Sussex. The development was initially on the northern part around the “kettle” and then the hardball field. In 1974-75, many organizations such as the Lions and Jaycees and softball enthusiasts organized to build a lighted softball diamond using a lot of volunteer labor and equipment. At first, the field was only 275 feet from the home plate to the snow fence. However, in later developments it was pushed out to a 10-foot chain link fence at a near uniform 300 feet.
With the development of the softball field with lights, there was a need to have a playground close enough so that children and parents could see each other. Oftentimes, the playground is the central hub of activity for kids attending Lions Daze, while parents sit on nearby benches or park tables to recharge their batteries.
George Podolske was born in 1892, moved to Sussex in 1915, and married his wife Laura in 1916. Their son, Ray, was born in 1917, and he married Isabelle Benson, a girl from across Main Street, in 1945. Their four children became part of the fabric of Sussex as they grew up. Their son Larry, the last remaining child, is the director of the current Sussex baseball club that shepherds the local Sussex Cardinals Land O’ Lakes baseball team, even though he does not live here.
Podolske playground: Part 2
Posted: Aug. 25, 2009
The Sussex Village Park lower playground was discussed in last week’s Retrospect, specifically the efforts in 1983 to recognize the contributions of the Podolske family, resulting in the 1992 dedication of the playground in their name.
The following history of the Podolske family outlines why they were so important to the Sussex community and particularly the park.
George Podolske (1892-1976) came to Sussex in 1915 to do tin work at the new Malsch Furniture Store on Main Street. A short time later he started a tin shop and hardware store across from the Main Street School. It became a fixture in the community, operating for 51 years (1915-1966).
George was a charter member of the Sussex Fire Department, serving for 33 years. He was the second chief, elected first in 1923 then again for a second term in 1928.
The very same group that started the fire department in 1924 petitioned to combine and incorporate the adjacent villages of Sussex and Templeton as the Village of Sussex. George was one of the prime movers behind this, and one of the 16 incorporation signers. He proceeded to serve for many years on the Sussex Village Board as a trustee.
He was also a prominent half-century member of the local Ashlar Lodge. In 1939 he was one of the founding members of the Sussex Lions Club and served as its second president (1940-41). In his declining years, he was a charted member of the Sussex Golden Agers who evolved into the Sussex/Lisbon Senior Citizen Club, serving as its first president.
Raymond Podolske (1917-1991) was the son of George Podolske. He was born and raised in Sussex, attending Sussex’s Main Street grade and high school before finally graduating from Waukesha High School in 1935.
During World War II, he was in the U.S. Army Air Force as an officer, flying as a navigator of a B-17 bomber. His plane was shot down over Germany, and he became a prisoner of war for 18 months. He married a local girl, Isabelle Benson, on July 18, 1945, only weeks after he was let out of the German prisoner of war stockade.
After returning to Sussex, he took up his life work as a plumber at his father’s Podolske Hardware Store. He helped found the Sussex Horne-Mudlitz VFW Post 6377 in 1946, and he is considered one of the three founding members. He continued to be a member for 45 years.
Ray joined the Sussex Fire Department and was a member for 29 years, serving as secretary-treasurer for over a decade. He was elected to several terms as village trustee, besides serving on untold various village committees and boards. In February 1958, he was chairman of the Sussex Public Works Committee.
Ray made the suggestion that the village think of purchasing a centrally-located, fairly large piece of land for a park. This suggestion was acted on by the board, under then-president Roy Stier. In August 1958, the Kufalk-Marsden-Moyes 78-acre farm was purchased for the Sussex Village Park for the sum of $36,088.17, with Podolske one of the seven voting for the expenditure. It was a unanimous board decision, despite a petition signed by more than 200 people opposed to the park purchase.
In his declining years, Ray served as the village building inspector before he retired.
Isabelle Podolske (1922-1983), the wife of Ray, came to the Sussex community with the influx of Swedish stone cutters during the late 1920s. Motherless, the little Isabelle Benson was cared for by her father until his death at an early age. Her landlord Shirley Morgan took her in as her daughter. She lived across the street from her future husband, in a home where the Associated Bank is today. She lived from Red Cross letter to Red Cross letter when her boyfriend Ray was captured in late 1943. Soon after his release from the German POW camp, Isabelle and Ray were married and had four children: Elaine, Larry, Ralph and Janet.
Isabelle was extremely active in the local community, being a perennial volunteer. She served for many years on the Sussex Park & Recreation board, rising to the rank of president. She is credited with starting many of the current programs that are part of the annual activities in the parks.
She became involved locally and at the state level in the American Red Cross, helping form the Gray Ladies school nursing program at Maple Avenue School.
In 1951, she was a co-founding member of the Sussex VFW Auxiliary, serving as president for three years.
At the time of her sudden death, she was the Sussex area representative on the State Department on Aging.
Ray and Isabelle are buried in St. Alban’s Cemetery, and the Sussex Lions, VFW and VFW Auxiliary paid for the marker sign.
All four children graduated from Hamilton High School, with Elaine and Larry participating in the very first classes. Elaine was an outstanding student. Janet was part of the 1979 Hamilton class that sent a team to the state basketball tournament, with Janet being a prominent member of the group. Earlier she had been a key original and longtime member of the nationally famous Sussex Robinettes Drum and Bugle Baton Corp.
Today the only Podolske left with Sussex ties is Larry, who is a director for the Sussex Baseball Club’s Land O’ Lakes team. A few years ago his son, David, was an outstanding main pitcher and league all-star for the Sussex team until an injury sidelined him.
correction
An article in the Feb. 18 issue of the Sussex Sun incorrectly stated that former Sussex Village President Michael Knapp opposed the renaming of Sussex Village Park to Sussex Lions Park. He has not, in fact, taken a position on the issue.
Sussex rejects bid to rename Village Park
New entrance sign will display Lions Club name
Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Feb. 20, 2009
Village of Sussex – Village of Sussex Village Park will not become Sussex Lions Park.
The Village Board last Tuesday voted down that request from the Sussex Lions Club on a 5-2 vote, but also recommended that the new $30,000 electronic sign the Lions are donating for the park entrance at Weaver Drive display the club’s name in large letters.
The Lions originally requested approval of the name change from the Sussex Park Board, which recommended against it, despite an informal poll that turned up 42 who favored the name change, 24 who opposed it and 18 who didn’t care.
Village Trustee Jason Wegner, who is also a Lions Club member, objected to the Park Board’s equation of “don’t care” votes with no votes, making the results appear to come out as a 42-42 tie.
Trustee Claire Bletcher, who also sits on the Park Board, said the informal poll was not conducted to come up with a majority vote for or against the idea, but just to see if there were strong feelings on the issue or an overwhelming consensus one way or the other.
“You can’t draw any great conclusion from it,” she said.
At least one opponent of the name change also objected to the process not the Park Board’s, but the village president’s.
Former Village President Mike Knapp didn’t like the way Tony Lapcinski, who ousted him from the village presidency in an election two years ago, handled the issue.
“The place to discuss this is at a Village Board meeting,” he said, “not through e-mails.”
Knapp will try to take his old post back from Lapcinski in the April general election.
Sussex Lions Club President Erik Olsen said the club needed the recognition that renaming the park would provide to help recruit younger members to the club.
In an interview Monday, he said he was “disappointed they decided not to (rename the park), to recognize all we’ve done for the village and the park over the years.
“We used to do things behind the scenes for the first 60 years or so we’ve existed word-of-mouth was enough in those days but if we continue to do things that way, we’ll die out.”
Sussex Hawks want fee policy changed
Baseball group wants free practice on park diamonds
Posted: May 5, 2009
Village of Sussex Dave Kotlan of the Sussex Hawks Baseball Organization doesn’t think the village is treating his group fairly when it comes to using Village Park’s baseball diamonds for practice.
Kotlan thinks his group’s teams should be allowed to use them for free “if we just want to take some kids out to practice.”
The Sussex Hawks should have reserved the diamonds back in February when they had the chance, Assistant Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said in a recent interview.
“We asked them back then if they wanted to reserve practice time on the diamonds,” he added, “but they said they wanted to save the money.”
Kotlan said his organization has not been treated the same way the village treats other groups, he wrote in an e-mail to the Sun.
Megan Sackett, the Sussex Recreation Department’s program coordinator, disagreed. “Everyone gets the same policy, unless it’s a village-run program, like soccer or T-ball,” she said in a recent interview.
The village charges $25 to reserve a three-hour block of time for games or practice, Smith said.
Reservation fees cover 25 percent of the cost of maintaining the fields and other park facilities, he added, with the remaining 75 percent paid by taxes.
Kotlan had hoped the village would change its policy if the April 1 elections had turned out differently.
“I agree with Mike Knapp that the village has become ‘fee happy,’ ” Kotlan said in a recent interview. “We pulled out our parents to vote for him.”
Knapp supports the group’s position. If they come out to practice, and no one else is using the diamond, they should be allowed to use it without being charged a fee, he said in a recent interview. “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” he said.
Lions gear up for third Piston & Rod show
Organizers expect 400-500 cars at Saturday show
Posted: Aug. 11, 2009
Village of Sussex This weekend is a good time to park in Sussex. No, not at night with the doors closed and windows fogged up but all day Saturday, Aug. 15, during the Sussex Lions third annual Piston & Rod Show in Sussex Village Park. Park your classic beauty, hot rod or tough truck at the park, pop the hood and open the doors so everyone can see what you’ve got.
Jake Walters who plans to enter two ’55 Chevys this year, said the event is a great family experience and an opportunity to show off the hard work he and his father, Jim, have put into the cars. Jake said the two have been working on the 1955 sedan for about four years as a father-and-son project. “It’s a good time to have father-and-son talks,” Jake said of the time the two have spent together refurbishing the cars.
Walters said he also enjoys the wide-eyed looks from the children at the event.
“The kids will come up and ask if they can hear the cars, take pictures by them and of course, they ask if we do burnouts in them,” Walters said. The occasional burnout is also rumored to be spotted at the show.
The Lions’ Piston & Rod Show is the only one of its kind in the area, said Walters, noting that because of this, it will likely have 400 to 500 cars. He said it’s a great opportunity for car aficionados to get together, show off, answer some questions and just have a good time. Both Jake and Jim live in Richfield but own and operate two Sussex concrete businesses: Gordy’s Concrete Pumping Service and Sussex U-Cart. Jake agreed the show is a win-win in that proceeds from the event will go back to charitable efforts through the Sussex Lions.
Rick Vodicka, co-chairman of the Piston & Rod Show Committee, said the event, along with a golf outing slated for September, are efforts the Sussex Lions have recently initiated to help grow funding for the community and even international efforts. Vodicka said the Sussex Lions Club is working with the village to replace the Sussex Village Park sign and is also working with the high school to help fund a new press box.
According to sussexlions.org, the club has contributed $1,009,695 to community, scholarship and other projects throughout the years.
Vodicka said preregistration for the event is up from last year and hopes that is a sign that total participation will increase for the event’s third year. The show is open to cars, pickups, motorcycles and semis. “If you’ve got a motor, we want to see it,” Vodicka said. Entry fee is $10 for a number of classes, see sussexlions.org/CarShow/index.htm for registration information.
A swap meet will also be held during the event; the cost of a 10-foot-by-10-foot spot is $25. Call Bill Evers, (262) 538-1117 for information. Vodicka also noted that if you’d like to enter your vehicle in the judging contest, have it there by 11 a.m.
Jake Walters said one of his favorite things about the free family event is the RC car track where youngsters can safely burn some rubber years before they get behind the wheel.
If you go
What: Sussex Lions third annual Piston & Rod Show, with multiple classes of stock and modified cars, trucks, semis and motorcycles. Food, beer and soda will be available.
When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 15
Where: Sussex Village Park at Main Street and Weaver Drive
Cost: Admission and parking is free. See sussexlions.org/CarShow/index.htm for registration information