We wish to congratulate Mrs. Maria Grabowska on reaching her one hundredth birthday. She was the second wife of Stanislaw Musialowicz, and a lifelong, dedicated teacher who helped to educate many generations of young Polish students. As a 19 years old girl, she faced for the first time a classroom of children in a village near Wilga. At the outbreak of the Second World War, she was headmistress of a primary school in Pawlowice. My generation was brought up in an intensely patriotic spirit - she reminisces. In those days, patriotism meant serving the Fatherland and preserving Polish schools at all costs. Throughout the German occupation of Poland, she continued to teach forbidden subjects such as history, literature, geography and also held secret classes in her own home. In the immediate post-war period, she continued to teach her pupils as well as providing for them clothes, shoes and food. Later on, she moved to Warsaw, where she taught in secondary schools situated in Miedziana and Mazowiecka streets. After a teaching career lasting fifty years, she retired and returned to her native village of Antoniow. Maria Grabowska received numerous decorations from the Polish Government in recognition of her clandestine teaching during the Occupation. In 2001 she unveiled a monument to the Secret Teachers Organisation (TON) next to the Warsaw University and another one in front of the school in Natolin which bears the name of TON. Throughout all these years she was greatly loved and respected by her pupils and their parents. This became increasingly evident when she retired. The celebration to mark her one hundredth birthday took place on 15th April 2007 in Antoniow. It was organised by the pupils of the local school and by her ex-pupils from Warsaw. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Association of Polish Teachers, of which she was a member for 70 years, took part in this Celebration as did representatives of Local Authorities, Pensioners Associations and also Mr.Ryszard Musiałowicz who sent us this report of the event.

Dear Mrs.Grabowska please accept our sincere expression of our love and admiration for your achievements and let the story of your life be an inspiration to us all.