Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Former dress designer turns 107

By BETSY BOLGER-PAULET
Published October 31, 2006

Severine Stewart celebrated her 107th birthday last week at Sunset Point Rehabilitation Center in Clearwater.

On Oct. 20, 1899, Severine Polega was born in Zelice, Poland. She was the second child of Mary Schrebkoski and Stanley Polega, a shoemaker.

When Severine was 2, the Polegas came to the United States and settled in the village of Hamtramck, Mich., where the family quickly grew to one boy and 13 girls.

At 13, Severine quit school to work as a seamstress to help support her siblings.

She soon learned to make patterns and became a popular dress designer. For 10 years, she co-owned and operated the Van Dyck Bridal Salon in Detroit with one of her sisters. She continued to sew for friends and family until the age of 98 when she was afflicted with arthritis.

At 19, Severine wed John Kubinski, who worked in the Detroit auto industry.

They had one daughter and two sons before they divorced 25 years later.

Her second husband, Harry Stewart, died after 11 years of marriage.

Severine came to Clearwater in 1981 and lived at Baywood Gardens and Madison Glen before moving to the Sunset Point center.

She keeps in touch with her three children, 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

* * *

Couples celebrate six decades together

Ruth and Leo Chance of Palm Harbor celebrated their 60th anniversary with several activities in several different places. They met at Oliver Nazarene University as she was enrolling and he was leaving for the Army. After his discharge they renewed their friendship and were married Aug. 23, 1946.

The couple has celebrated throughout 2006 - first with a New Year's cruise to the Western Caribbean, then in June with a 14-day cruise from Dover, England, to the capitals of the Scandinavian countries, accompanied by two couples, Barbara and Gil Faber and Shirley and Jack Naylor, whom they had met on a cruise celebrating their 55th anniversary.

In July, the Chances flew to Salem, Ore., for a family reunion, and, during their actual anniversary week Aug. 23-26, their two daughters, Diane Tolin and Donna Zimmer, son, Robert, and spouses honored them with a family reunion at Pere Marquet State Park in Alton, Ill. Attending were 21 family members, including the couple's five grandchildren and their spouses and four great-grandchildren. This reunion was followed by a monthlong stay at Lake Junaluska, N.C.

* * *

Louis S. and Ina B. Moretti of Dunedin celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a two-week trip to Las Vegas with their daughter, Patti McNally. They were wed Oct. 26, 1946 at Macabee's Hall, Detroit.

The Morettis came here in 1974 from West Detroit, where Louis worked as a milkman for Wilson Dairy. Locally he worked 15 years as assistant park supervisor at Taylor Park in Largo. He is an Army veteran of World War II.

Besides their daughter in Nevada, they have two sons, David of Dunedin and Louis, Sterling Heights, Mich., and two granddaughters, Blair McNally, Las Vegas, and Andrea Moretti, Detroit.

Ina is active in the Scottish American Society of Dunedin, and enjoys bowling and playing golf. Both enjoy gardening and playing cards.

For information or an anniversary form, call (727) 445-4109. To submit an item to Good for You, write to Betsy Bolger-Paulet, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. Fax forms to (717) 441-4119, or e-mail paulet@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 30, 2006, 23:34:14]