Sticking together: Friends gather to help couple mark milestone
By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com
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| Eugene Raczkowski, 79, enjoys his anniversary cake while his wife of 30 years, Mary Lou, 76, rubs his head during their party at Rail Enterprises in Woodstock, where the two work. Eugene and Mary Lou, who are developmentally disabled, first met when they lived in the same complex in Chicago. Eugene said that they enjoy having dates at IHOP and he still remembers getting down on one knee to propose. (Danielle Guerra – dguerra@nwherald.com) |
WOODSTOCK – As about 40 of their friends clicked their spoons on their cups and drummed on tables with their hands, Eugene Raczkowski planted a big kiss on his wife, Mary Lou.
“Ain’t nothing to it,” he said with a smile.
The Raczkowskis, who are developmentally disabled, were celebrating their 30th anniversary Thursday, a few days in advance of the actual date.
They live at Sheltered Village, a nursing facility in Woodstock. Eugene Raczkowski will turn 80 this year, and Mary Lou is 76 years old.
They both work at Rail Enterprises, what they call the “workshop,” learning vocational skills that come in handy when the organization has contracted jobs available. Eugene, for example, may sort different-sized nuts or screw on bottle tops. He’s now working on writing his own name.
They met while living in another complex in Chicago.
“When I married him, he had curly hair,” Mary Lou Raczkowski said, rubbing her husband’s bald head. But she doesn’t mind a little hair loss; she said she still loves everything about him.
“Boy, I love him,” she said.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their little, laughable tiffs.
“You should see them at lunch, telling each other what to do,” said Diana Collins, day training director.
Getting around can be difficult for Mary Lou Raczkowski, who is in a wheelchair, but the couple enjoy going on dates to International House of Pancakes.
“As long as he’s happy, she’s happy,” said Judy Bottcher, a habilitation technician for Sheltered Village.
Eugene Raczkowski paid for a sheet cake, both chocolate and vanilla, out of his own account. Each gave the other a card with a picture of themselves tucked inside.
“We’re going to stay together all my life,” Eugene Raczkowski said after they fed each other some cake. “I love her.”
The other Sheltered Village residents can see their love. Seventy-three-year-old Isabelle Howard gave Mary Lou Raczkowski a kiss on the cheek and congratulated them.
“I think they’re swell,” she said. “They’re wonderful.”
But would she take a lesson from the Raczkowskis and settle down anytime soon?
“I’m not the marrying type!” Howard said.
