Theresa Danuta Rozycki

Theresa Danuta Rozycki, a lifelong resident of Schenectady, passed away on February 26, 2026, at her home in the Woodlawn section of the city. She was 95.

Theresa was born Jan. 10, 1931, to Michael and Mary (Kalinowski) Maczynski and grew up in the Mont Pleasant section of the city.

Theresa often spoke of how the Mont Pleasant neighborhood of her youth was vibrant and everybody essentially knew each other.

“You got to know a lot of people by sight, if not by person,” she said. “Crane Street was our shopping center; the A&P, children’s, women’s and men’s clothing stores, a five and dime, a car dealership, bars, undertakers, bakeries and the Crane Theater that showed movies during the 1940s and ’50s.”

Another hotspot, she said, was the PNA (Polish National Alliance) building on Crane Street opposite Third Avenue. It offered food, a bar, card tables for the older men who would play pinochle for a penny a hand and held dances for young people “where my friends and I met some nice young men.”

Theresa started her education at Seward School on the corner of Congress Street and Fifth Avenue. Due to needed repairs, the school was closed and everyone was transferred to Hamilton School on Webster Street at Seventh Avenue. 

After sixth grade she was off to McKinley Junior High School where she took a commercial course, sang in chorus after school and joined a knitting club. After three years, Theresa was on to Mont Pleasant High School where she continued a commercial course of study. She was a member of the Current Events Club, Executive Committee and the Moppettes, a service organization that prepared the gym for athletic events. Afterschool activities included the girls’ baseball and basketball teams.

Graduating in June 1949, her class was known as the “Forty-niners.”

Theresa and her friends were members of the Sodality of St. Adalbert’s Church. They sang in the choir for the 10 a.m. Mass, which was for the schoolchildren, whose mothers would often sit up in the loft to keep an eye on them. The kids would often jostle each other if one fell asleep, Theresa said.

Her first job after high school was as a salesperson at the H.S. Barney Department Store on State Street. Afterward, she would join the secretarial pool at the Mica Insulator Co. on Broadway where she learned among other things how to use the telegraph machine. Theresa continued her career as a secretary in Building 2 of the General Electric Co.

It was in 1951, that Theresa would meet the love of her life at a house party hosted by Jinx and Julie Compositor. 

“Matt and I sat down in a quiet area of the house and we talked for over an hour. He asked me to go to a movie. After that, more dates, double dates and on March 22,1952, he proposed marriage to me,” Theresa said.

“We picked February 14 (Valentine’s Day) in 1953 to get married. Snow was on the ground, the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day.”

“We left the next day by train to New York City and then onto to Miami, Florida, for two weeks,” she said.

After the birth of her son, she became a homemaker, embracing her skills as a seamstress, making everything from pajamas to suit jackets for her family. She enjoyed get togethers and house parties with her high school classmates – Lorraine (LuBrant) Sroczynski and Dolores (Wyszomirski) Scheuer  – and longtime friends Santa DelBrocco and Dot Siudy, and their families.

She and her husband traveled across the United States, with a longtime favorite being North Myrtle Beach, S.C. 

Theresa is survived by two sons, Michael of Schenectady and Robert of Wappingers Falls; a daughter-in-law, Laura Rozycki; and two granddaughters who always lit up her life, Lesley Rozycki of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Carolyn Rozycki of Brooklyn, N.Y. She was predeceased by a brother, John.

The family would like to thank the nurses of The Community Hospice in making her as comfortable as possible.

Calling hours will be held on Friday, March 6, 2026 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the DeLegge Funeral Home.  Interment will be in St. Adalbert’s Cemetery.