Stanley Silvenis

Because of customs I suppose... Stan and Jeanette had a rather large wedding. Surprising as neither family had much money.

Stan and Jeanette.

The military years.


NOTICE THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE! Different name... and different spelling of last name.

Stanley Michael SILVENIS was born on 26 Dec 1915 in Braddock, Allegheny, PA. Stanley Michael died in Wayne, MI, on 7 Feb 2002; he was 86. Buried in Belleville, MI.

According to Stanley Michael Silvenis… “Silvenis” was spelled a different way. To his best recollection it was “ Silvenish”. He grew up in Pennsylvania, moved to Detroit and at that time the spelling of the last name was changed to what it is today. He moved to Detroit when he was about 23 years old. His entire childhood was in Rancon and Braddock PN. He lived in Braddock first and then moved to Rancon sometime in elementary school.

Stan was born the day after Christmas in 1915. (see Catholic baptismal certificate next page…notice the different spelling of his first and last name… when this was found Stan had passed on and Jeannette couldn’t shed any light on it) He met Jeanette in Detroit. The neighbor grew strawberries. He often bought strawberries and took them to the “shop” … a woman there asked him to bring her strawberries. After some time the woman offered for Stan to meet a nice girl and she set him up with Jeanette. On Nov 16, 1939 was their first date. Jan 31 1942 they were married.

Stanley’s parents immigrated from Russia… or Lithuania … the family believes they came from Lithuania But the records show Russia. This is easily explained as Lithuania was occupied by Russia for portions of its history. Stanley’s father was Anthony Silvenis and his mother was Rosalie Jankauwka. both immigrated to the United States separately. They never talked about the old country or their immigration. Anthony worked on a farm where they raised onions. Anthony was born in Litvia. His sister May, during the war, arranged to send penicillin to a doctor back where they were from. The doctor was a relative but contact was lost over the years.

The oldest child in the family was Marian (aunt May), then Michael, then Anne, then Stanley. The family was never close. May never lived at home. She was a maid for another family and then worked for Hershey. Michael had a steel mill job and also didn’t live at home. The children began working around the age of 13 or14. They were a poor family. Michael was going to buy Stan a saxophone … the day he was to get the sax Stan broke his arm and never did get the sax.