Seed Savers Exchange 2014 Yearbook

[carolyn137]

Would someone who has the 2014 SSE Yearbook look in the red section and confirm that I did NOT list Opalka?

I got a complicated e-mail from someone I don 't know who was reciting some O'palka's who lived near him and said they gave him some seeds or plants that gave fruits just like Opalka. And wanted to know if the Carl Swidorski I got them from was related. It was Carls wife who was the Opalka and her family that brought them to the US.

And I have to contact Craig L to confirm it was a Mike Opalka that he met up here near Albany on a job interview who was not part of that.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Opalka

I guess I've got to find out if Mary, Carl's wife, had any brothers who also came to Amsterdam NY

I checked and Carl is no longer a faculty member at the college I used to teach at. But I think I know how to track him down if he's still, or his wife, on earth/

And I had just a few seed requests to do today, and didn't get them done b'c of distractions such as this one, I don't mean in a bad way b'c this person is genuinely interested in making some connections.

He could have gotten the info about Opalka that someone put in their blurb of Opalka that was a quote from me, and for sure he got my em address from my blurb in thefront of the Yearbook.

I haven't listedOpalka in many years and list just 6 new ones in the 2014, having told Joanne to delete all the others.

So tonight it's either the Olympics or the Westminster Dog Show which always amuses me.

Thanks for checking for me for I have no idea when my Yearbook will arrive.

Carolyn

[Lee]

Mine just arrived today. Just in time for getting snowed in.

Oh, no opalka listing for NYMAC
However, Tatiana's listing is first and gives all the history as you recited above.

Lee

[nctomatoman]

Hey all - it was actually a fellow named Chet Opalka - I was interviewing at Albany Molecular Research, a tiny company with essentially 2 people at the time - Tom D'Ambra and Chester Opalka. During the interview, they asked me about my hobbies - I told them about my developing interest in heirloom tomatoes - Chet told me about a tomato that his family brought from Europe - and I told him I know, I grow it (it was Opalka)! Small world indeed!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Hey all - it was actually a fellow named Chet Opalka - I was interviewing at Albany Molecular Research, a tiny company with essentially 2 people at the time - Tom D'Ambra and Chester Opalka. During the interview, they asked me about my hobbies - I told them about my developing interest in heirloom tomatoes - Chet told me about a tomato that his family brought from Europe - and I told him I know, I grow it (it was Opalka)! Small world indeed!

Thanks Craig. I don't know where I got the Mike from but now remember it was Chet.

So it looks like Chet was a brother of Mary, Carl Swidorski's, wife Mary.

I don't think Richard would mind if I cut and pasted part of his em to me since together here I'm hoping to figure this out.

(Some people were friends and always brought in part of the year's harvest to give to Dad. One such friend was Mike Opalka, who was a local body shop guy. He was one of Dad's friends. His wife, Annie, was a great cook who worked in a local restaurant with my mother.


Mike always brought in these great little paste tomatos. They looked like what I now recognize as Opalka. My Dad and Mom are long since passed away and I never got to ask them about it, so I'm wondering if by any chance your friend Carl or his wife can confirm whether or not Mike and Annie were members of the Amsterdam branch of the Opalkas. Amsterdam, as you many know, is only 6-8 miles from Broadalbin. Mike spelled his last name O'Palka and was always teased as being the Irish/Polish guy. I assume that, like many first generation folks, the name was changed to be more American- more's the pity. )

So that' where I got the Mike Opalka and why he spelled it that way when Mary spelled it Opalka , not O'Palka I'll never know.

So itlooks like I'm now going to have to get a friend who still teaches where I once did, to track down Carl or his wife/

Another small world anecdote. WhenI was growing tomatoes at Charlie Brizell's farm I found a whole long row of tomato plants, not mine, that Charlie had planted next to mine, I asked him what they were and how did they get them. He told me that he wholesaled stuff to a family called Sarnowski, so I waited until they ripened up and then asked if his wife Sue had contact with the Sarnowski's, she did, I asked permission to save seeds and the Sarnowskis and I named ot Sarnowski Polish Plum

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...b=General_Info

OK, now the small world part. Barkeater, who posts here works near the Canadian border, One fine day a truck was going thru, or something like that and the driver's name was Sarnowski, Bark asked him if he was the Polish PLum Sarnowski, and yes, it was Mike himself.


Carolyn, who never gave any thought to geneology that could be initiated via the SSE Yearbooks.

[carolyn137]

My Yearbook came today, but it will be several days until I'll have time to look at it.

Carolyn