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After 57-year absence, Polish immigrant still impressed by Grove Hill's hospitality
Klarman, almost 70, and his wife, Linda, live in Holly, Michigan, just south of Flint, and drove down for the Clarke County High School Old Timers Reunion and the Class of 1958 reunion. The story that prompted Klarman to reconnect to Grove Hill is interesting. Christmas column prompted contact Harvey "Hardy" Jackson writes columns for The Anniston Star that The Clarke County Democrat and other newspapers print. In 2004 Jackson wrote a touching story for Christmas about a Polish boy, "Taddy," who went to school in Grove Hill in the early 1950s. For the school's Christmas party, he gave the boy whose name he drew a cap pistol set that he wanted himself. Jackson wrote in the column how that spirit of giving touched him. "I don't know what became of the Klarmans after they left. I hope they lived out the American dream. But I know this, come Christmas, I always think of Taddy." Klarman, living in Michigan, had never forgotten Grove Hill and would occasionally search the Internet for Grove Hill information. That's how he found Jackson's column. "I was so excited. I called my wife. 'You have got to come see this'," he said. The column carried Jackson's e-mail and Klarman e-mailed him and the two connected and a trip to Grove Hill was planned. Thaddeus Klarman and his mother, Helena Klarman, were Polish and were displaced by the Germans in World War II and ended up on a Bavarian farm where Helena, a seamstress, sewed for the German army. Klarman was about six or seven at the war's end and he remembered U.S. tanks rolling into the small town. Things didn't immediately get better and he and his mother were shuttled in and out of DP - "Displaced Persons" - camps along with others from Eastern Europe. Klarman remembered living in crowded camps with only a sheet to divide he and his mother's sleeping quarters from others. Their fortunes turned when William E. and Cornelia Deer of Claiborne "sponsored" them and brought them to the United States. Arrived in U.S. in 1951 Klarman said he and his mother arrived in New Orleans in January 1951 and rode the train to Atmore where the Deers picked them up and brought them to their antebellum home in Claiborne. They stayed on the Deer's property for about six months and Klarman attended school in Perdue Hill. Although he was 13-years-old he was placed in the third grade because he did not know the English language well. The Deers also sponsored other Polish families. Klarman remembered Deer as a somewhat gruff man but one of compassion too. Klarman remembers riding with Deer in his old pickup to visit someone in the community whose house had burned. "All that was standing was the chimney," he said. Deer surveyed the scene and told the man, "Go on up to the sawmill [apparently Deer's] and get what lumber you need," to rebuild, Klarman remembers Deer telling the man. Mrs. Deer was a warm person who encouraged the immigrants to learn the English language, and U.S. customs so they would fit in, get a good job and be a part of society. The Klarmans were Catholic and there was a Catholic church at Grove Hill and the Deers would bring them over for Mass. They connected with the priests here at the time, Father Frank Girri, who organized the Catholic churches in the county in the mid-1940s, and a younger associate priest. The priests needed a housekeeper and Klarman's mother got the job and they moved to Grove Hill. Initially they stayed in the church's recreation room but soon a house was built for the Klarmans behind the church. Charles Pezent of Jackson helped construct the house. Pezent's father was a Croatian immigrant and the Pezents were Catholic. Klarman met Pezent while he was here. In Grove Hill, Klarman was moved up to the sixth grade. He secured a paper route, delivering The Montgomery Advertiser and frequently got to go to the movies at the movie theater that was in town then. Fond memories "I have very fond memories of Grove Hill. The people were very gracious." He said often while walking to the movies, a car would stop and give him a ride. He got a bicycle for his paper deliveries from Western Auto and he remembered the store on Main Street fondly. "I'd go in there and long for streamers for my [bike's] handle bars." Possibly, that is where the cappistol set came from that Hardy Jackson wrote about. Ironically, Klarman doesn't remember much about the cap pistol set. He also doesn't remember a lot of his classmates other than Tom- Tommy at the time- O'Melia. Perhaps that is because the O'Melias were also Catholic. He also doesn't remember going by the nickname "Taddy" anywhere but in Grove Hill. A classmate, Bob Helms, remembers Klarman and said sometimes when there were fights on the playground, "Taddy" would pull the fighters apart, admonishing them that they had nothing to fight over. Perhaps he had seen too much fighting in Europe during World War II and knew what was worth fighting for and what wasn't, Helms reasoned. Klarman said he remembered everything being much bigger. "Back then, everything was so huge." He cited the Catholic church as an example. The small building, no longer a church, is still standing and Klarman said he remembered it being much bigger. He's no longer Catholic but belongs to a non-denominational church. Left for Detroit in 1952 Helena Klarman never got used to the southern heat and in 1952 she and her son left for Detroit where there was a Polish community. Klarman would eventually join the U.S. Marines. After that he worked in a tool and die shop and then for Chrysler for 35 years before retiring. He has four children and stepgrandchildren as well. He's a grandfather and great-grandfather. His mother died in 1985. The Klarmans enjoyed their visit to Grove Hill. Linda Klarman said it had been a wonderful trip. Ted Klarman said his children wanted to see lots of pictures and they want him to consider writing a book. As Hardy Jackson wished for in that Christmas column, Klarman apparently did live out the American dream. Jackson wrote in a recent column, "Taddy, Ted, came to this country hoping for better than what he left behind. He sought a place to fit in and found it, he adopted America and America adopted him, he served his country, worked hard, weathered problems at home and on the job, and in the end found peace and happiness in retirement."
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