Evelyn Glinka Lonczak 11.30.2021

1929 – 2021

Evelyn Glinka Lonczak, loving and devoted mother and grandmother, died peacefully on November 30, 2021 at age 92. Evelyn is survived by four children and their families: Maria Lonczak, husband Andrew Collins and sons Matthew and Jesse of Cross River, New York; Lois, husband Charles Lombardi and children Dominic, Christopher, and Mia of Carlisle; Jonathan, wife Amy, and children Ainsley and Jackson of Lexington; and Mark and daughter Aubrey of Braintree. She is also survived by her sister Alice Bednarz of Chicopee. Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband Edward and daughter Christine Lonczak, and brother Louis R. Glinka.

Born in Chicopee, Mass. to Ludwik “Louis” and Mary (Kubik) Glinka, Evelyn graduated Chicopee High School in 1946 and then worked for New England Telephone for 15 years. Years later she returned to work at successor company Verizon in Boston, retiring at the management level after more than 30 years of service.

In 1961 Evelyn married Edward J. Lonczak of Chicopee and they moved to Boston where they started their family. The couple moved to Braintree in 1963 as their family grew, settling there to raise their five children. Evelyn was especially dedicated to supporting her children in their many activities that included music, dance, and sports. Most critically during these years, she provided outstanding, loving care to her youngest daughter, Christine, throughout many years of pediatric medical treatment. Perhaps Evelyn’s greatest gift of maternal devotion came in 1975 when she donated one of her kidneys to Christine.

One of the personal joys of Evelyn’s life was singing. She sang in the choir in high school and then in 1979 joined the Krakowiak Polish Folk Singers of Boston, performing with them locally, throughout the U.S., and in Poland. Evelyn also valued her many warm friendships from the KPFSB.

Throughout their nearly 54 years of marriage, Evelyn and Edward took great joy in their children’s endeavors, traveling all over the Northeast to watch their oldest son play college hockey and to California to attend USC football games when Christine was a graduate student there. They also enjoyed trips to vineyards in Northern California, New York City to go to Broadway shows and operas at Lincoln Center, and especially cruises to Mexico, throughout the Caribbean and Hawaii, and through the Panama Canal.

Always a selfless, giving wife and mother, Evelyn was Edward’s steadfast care-giver for the last several years of his life, until his passing in 2015. She moved to assisted living in Lexington in 2019 after 56 years in Braintree and for the last year lived at Elizabeth Seton Residence in Wellesley.

Visiting hours will take place at Clancy-Lucid Funeral Home, 100 Washington St., Weymouth on Sunday, December 5 from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, 72 Washington St., Weymouth on Monday, December 6 at 11:00 AM. Burial will be private. Should you wish to make an offering in Evelyn’s memory, the family suggests donating blood at your local blood bank or making a gift to Donate Life (donatelife.net), a national organization that promotes and supports organ donation, or CatholicTV (catholictv.org), which helped sustain Evelyn’s faith throughout her final years.