Henryk Cielesz Obituary
Henryk Cielesz, 83, of Norwalk, died on Saturday, August 31, 2024 in his home surrounded by his family. He was the son of the late Antoni and Bronislawa Cielesz and is preceded by his son Richard E. Cielesz and sister, Janina. Henryk was born on March 16th 1941, during WW2 in a village (Horaczki) in Poland. In 1948, his father built a two family house in Grodno and they moved there. Although once the war ended, Grodno was in Poland, but after the war, Grondo ended up in Belarus and to this day, that is where Grodno is.
In 1958, Henryk and the family immigrated to Raciborz, Poland, and then in 1962 immigrated to Norwalk, CT. He worked at Develco in Norwalk 1962-1965 and then from 1965-2005 worked at Burndy as a Mechanical Designer, where he and his coworkers developed a patent. He then spent 11 years working at General Analysis and another five years at Focus Medical in Bethel. In 2005 he retired and continued to work by becoming a handyman for 10 years and making improvements to homes. He knew how to do just about anything and everything.
In 1974 he purchased a small house which was originally 1, 400sqft but with being quite the handyman, he made three additions to the house by himself, which also included the designs, blueprints, plans, and getting the permits, so the house grew to over 3, 000sqft. With his new home came a love of gardening and planting flowers. Something fresh from the garden was a treat to cook with. A few other passions of his were socializing and being around people, whether the dances or the beach. He loved to go to the Polish Dances in New Britain and Bridgeport where he could spend all day and night dancing the Polka and Waltz.
With the beach, he could spend all day there. Being with people, cooking out, throwing the frisbee around, spending time with his family and friends and most importantly, being in the ocean. No matter how cold, he would take a swim. A big thank you for the help and support from Norwalk Hospital, Whittingham Cancer Center and Waveny Hospice in caring for Henryk. Henry is survived by his wife, Wladyslawa, daughter Barbara (Ron) Spagnuolo of Norwalk, Maryann of Richmond, VA, brother Richard (Krystyna) of Norwalk and four grandchildren, Gavin, Austin, Lucas and Isabella.
His family will receive friends on Wednesday, September 4, 2024 from 5 to 7 pm at the Magner Funeral Home, 12 Mott Ave. Norwalk. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 on Thursday, September 5, 2024 at St. Philip Roman Catholic Church at 1 Father Conlon Pl Norwalk, with burial to follow at St. John's Cemetery at 223 Richards Ave., Norwalk.
