Eastlake Historical Society

In the early 1900’s Baleslavas Zukas came to Cleveland from Lithuania. He worked as a shaper for suits that were made by tailors. He married Mary Mikelaites who herself had immigrated to America in 1914. They had two daughters: Alice and Helen.
Helen Marion Zukas was born in Cleveland, Ohio, September 2, 1922. She attended a vocational high school named Jane Adams, where she learned to be a beautician. She fell in love with Bruno Kudzus and they were married in Cleveland in 1943. To this union were born five children; Maureen, Rita, Linda, Kenneth and Christine. The couple settled on 332nd St., located just off of Vine Street, around 1946. Helen has lived in the same house ever since.

When Helen had her children there were no big hospitals in the area. She gave birth to Rita on the night of a big snow storm. There were no ways to clear the streets of snow like they have today. Everyone just had to stay at home. Fortunately for her a neighbor had dug out of his driveway and took her to Cleveland. They got as far as Eddy Rd. and St. Clair. The roads were narrow and down to one lane. They were able to place her in a police cruiser that took her the rest of the way to the hospital. The whole night was quite an adventure, but everything turned out for the good.

Just before they moved to Eastlake, Helen was fortunate enough to have won a television in a raffle. She thinks that this invention had been important for the development of our country. Much intelligence has been gained by being able to see things as they happen. She really is not a big television show watcher now. She enjoys listening to the news and watching a show called Judges. When her children were young she remembers watching shows with them like Captain Kangaroo and Barnaby. Barnaby was the man with the invisible parrot named Long John. He would say, “If anyone calls, tell them Barnaby says hello.”

For entertainment she would walk with her children around the block. She was happy when K-Mart was built because it gave them a place to go. She was grateful for all of the stores on Vine Street. She could find pretty much all that she needed without going very far.

Helen didn’t learn to drive until after she started having children. She needed to learn so that she could visit with her parents in Cleveland. It turned out to be a good thing because after she divorced her husband, she had to find work to help to provide for her children. She worked for over 20 years for Buckeye Business Products. Driving with five youngsters in the car was quite an experience. There were no seat belts in cars to help to keep them in their places. She remembers having to use hand signals to make a turn in the car, as her auto did not have a turning blinker.

Helen has always been a big fan of gadgets. She enjoys collecting them, especially those that help to make cooking easier. She enjoys growing plants from seeds, both inside and out. Ever since she has lived in Eastlake she has grown a vegetable garden.

Until her eyes started going bad, Helen enjoyed doing ceramics. She often participated in the Eastlake Senior Citizen Center that had a group who worked on ceramics. She thinks the center is a fine place to go to meet new friends and highly recommends it to anyone who is interested.

She used to enjoy participating in the community classes that were offered at North High School in the evenings. She especially enjoyed the painting and flower arranging.

Helen now shares her home with her “old friend” Blackie. This is a dog she has had for a number of years, part cocker spaniel, part poodle. She is blessed with 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with one more on the way.

This article is brought to you by the Eastlake Historical Society. If you are or know of someone who is 80 years old or older and lived in Eastlake for 50 years or more, please contact us in care of Eastlake City Hall.

EASTLAKE CELEBRATES ITS SENIORS