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Red Firebird revs Pole toward capitalist success
The red Firebird zipped past Tom Petryszak as he headed to the city. The 17-year-old Polish teen and his family had just arrived in Chicago and were making their way down the Kennedy Expressway. The flashy muscle car was his first glimpse of U.S. consumerism after a lifetime of Communist rule. "I want one of those," he said to himself. It was the only thing that excited Petryszak about America. He didn't want to come, but when his parents secured visas in 1992, he had no choice. He became one of about 60,000 Poles who arrived in the Chicago area in the 1990s. That third immigrant wave made the journey after Communism's collapse, escaping an economy left in tatters after years of Soviet domination. The Petryszaks had tried for a dozen years to emigrate to make a better life, but their repeated attempts failed. The United States was willing to issue them visas, but the Soviet-ruled Polish government refused them passports. "It's something my parents wanted," says Petryszak, who now is 29 and runs a successful stucco business in Naperville and St. Charles. "It didn't matter if I wanted to go or not." They left their home in the mountain resort town of Krynica, located a few miles from the Slovakian border, and moved to Chicago where they already had family. At 17, Petryszak found himself in a strange school without friends or a strong grasp of English. "It was hard," recalls Petryszak. "Kids aren't always nice, especially to people who are different from them." His mother worked at a factory and often brought home side jobs. Petryszak and his family earned extra cash assembling tiny machine parts at their kitchen table. He saved up enough money - $700 -to buy a used car. He purchased a Firebird just like the one he saw on his first day in America. "I probably should have saved it for something else," Petryszak says with a chuckle. "But I was young." A short time later, Petryszak dropped out of the high school where he never felt comfortable. He worked for a contractor remodeling Red Lobster restaurants across the country.
The job paid $22 an hour and gave Petryszak a chance to explore America. He went to Nebraska, Ohio and West Virginia - states he never would have seen otherwise. A year into the job, he saw a man doing stucco work at a construction site. The style, with its textured swirls and rich finish, was unlike anything he had ever seen. In the Carpathian Mountains where Petryszak grew up, most homes are made of stacked cinder blocks. Coarse cement is poured over the exterior and typically painted bone white. The homes, while beautiful in their simplicity, do not have any of the ornate features that drew Petryszak to stucco finishes. Without hesitation, he quit Red Lobster to become a stucco apprentice. He gave up a $22-per-hour job to learn a new trade for $5 per hour. Soon, the student became the master and caught the eye of local builders. One contractor encouraged Petryszak to start his own firm, promising to hire him once that happened. That promise gave Petryszak enough confidence to open his own business. In 1997, five years after coming to America, he became an entrepreneur. "And that man never gave even one job," he says. "He told me to do it, then I was completely on my own." Still, it didn't take long for the company, Ornamental Stucco, to find success. Petryszak quickly made a name for himself in Naperville and St. Charles, where the upscale housing boom offered plenty of work. He regularly put finishing touches on million-dollar homes. In June, his efforts on a stucco-and-brick home in Naperville's historic district won a citywide competition. "It's better than I could ever imagine," he says of the life he's made in a country he didn't choose. "I never thought it could be this good." The success has provided a comfortable life for Petryszak, his wife, Iwona, a Polish woman he met here, and their 1-year-old son, Kevin. The couple, who live in Elmwood Park, returned in July to Krynica for the first time. He has kept in touch with Polish friends over the years, but none know how successful Petryszak has become. He purposely downplays his achievements because he doesn't want to seem boastful or arrogant. Poland currently has 18.9 percent unemployment and a slightly lower poverty rate. Most of Petryszak's friends in Poland have menial jobs in the tourist industry, like washing dishes or landscaping. To go back and brag about his new home, fully loaded truck and prosperous business just wouldn't seem right. "I don't tell anybody what I do," he says. "They would be jealous and it would cause problems." Besides, he knows now, if not for his parents' decision to immigrate to America, his life might be identical to theirs. "I'm lucky," he says. "A lot of good has happened in a very short time."
Right at home: Part 4: Grayslake woman traces her heritage to the Holocaust.
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