Victor & Anna Soltysiak

Victor and Anna's story began in the late 1930s.

They both worked hard on their family's farms. Anna would watch the cows after school so they wouldn't wander off. Victor would tend the cows, horses, hogs, and work the fields. The farms they lived on were only about two miles from each other. Yet the families never intermingled.

As Anna would be outside during school lunch break she'd watch Victor work the fields with a team of horses, plowing and planting.

He was eight years older than her and had already graduated school when he finally took notice of her watching him.

He was no stranger to the girls, they were always coming around looking to spend time with him. His mother would find him hiding in the chicken coop or the barn loft from the girls. He wanted nothing to do with the forward girls that went after a man.

Anna never approached him or crossed over the road from the school yard to the fields he was working in. Instead, after several sunny spring days of working and realizing that every lunch period, Anna was gazing at him smiling, he walked to the edge of the field and hollered over asking her name.

That's how the family started. Victor, a six foot tall, broad shouldered man, was so strong from milking the whole herd with his bare hands, yet he was as gentle as a lamb when Anna asked for help with her coat or getting into the sleigh.

When they were married in the Catholic church in Bethlehem, both families gathered at Anna's family's farm for the reception. Everyone brought food in abundance that filled all the tables they could find. The reception lasted all day and into the next. Everyone had such a great time.

Victor always admired and cherished his little Annie. He wanted to provide for her every need, but life was hard back then. He wanted to have a farm of his own with Annie by his side, but instead, he ended up with just a small plot of land.

When Anna discovered she was going to have a baby, Victor wouldn't let her do anything. He coddled her, made the meals, did the dishes... wouldn't let her lift a finger. He didn't want to take any chances of losing the precious life they made.

She would ask him to scratch her back constantly. While she was pregnant with her first child, Anna said the back of her dress wore out and started tearing apart because her back would not stop itching. However, once the baby was born, her back just stopped itching. She couldn't explain it.

Ronald was their first baby. As excited as they were to bring this new life into their family, Ronald wore them out. Anna said he had the biggest smile and was always happy, but his energy was non stop. No matter how much Victor tried to wear him out, Ronny could still run circles around them at the end of the long day. To make matters worse, he never slept. Anna said they would no sooner get him to sleep, go to sneak out of the room ... then he'd suddenly jump up and start bouncing around again.

Anna said that Victor would let the baby fall asleep on his chest while sitting in the living room chair and it was the only place he'd sleep soundly for any length of time was on Victor.

Ronny was such a ball of energy, that Anna didn't want any more children, but Victor wanted a little girl. After ten years of trying to convince her that he'll do everything to make it easier for Anna, she agreed and they had David.

Victor didn't get his little girl, but David was alot easier, he was a sleeper. It was after David was born that they started building their house. Victor, by this time, sadly came to the realization that he wasn't going to have a farm of his own, and settled to building the house.

Victor built the home based on what his Annie wanted. They worked side by side building the house. When it was nearly complete, Ronald was entering the United States Airforce overseas. Young David said it was the only time he saw his dad cry.

Victor was the strongest man David ever knew... he could carry two one-hundred pound sacks (one on each shoulder) and climb the ladder like he wasn't carrying anything. The man could chuck heavy hay bales to the top of the full wagon like they were lightweights.

Once he went to help his father on the farm. He heard yelling and a mighty scuffle coming from the behind the barn. When he ran around back he saw his dad bleeding and his shirt was in shreds as the huge bull had him pinned against the barn wall. Victor, reacting without thinking, ran into the barnyard and tried to distract to bull away from his father. The bull paid no attention to Victor and was totally focused on Walter, Victor's dad. Filled with absolute rage that the bull was going to kill his father, Victor punched the massive bull in the side. The bull collapsed to the ground. No one died that day. The bull went on to live the rest of his life on the farm. Years later the butcher would tell people how he slaughtered the only bull with broken rib from one punch.

That's how strong Victor was, yet, when it was time for his son to leave for the Airforce, he was heartbroken. He was afraid he would lose his son. That's a trait that both Ronald and David acquired from their father... such strong family men.

As time past, Victor worked at a welding place in Hellertown. One time, as a dare, the men in the shop yard asked Victor to see how tight he could make the nut on the bolt of a semi truck wheel... he tightened it soooo tight the it actually snapped the bolt in half, right off the wheel. He was like a gentle giant, but nobody ever messed with him.

Victors father, Walter, once broke a man's jaw and knocked out a row of teeth when the man made fun of Walter's wife. Everyone one at the party was shocked... and he didn't apologize or feel sorry.... he said, "nobody makes fun of my wife!"

Soltysiak men are fierce family protectors. Victor went on working on his home, doing all he could to keep his Annie happy, and spend as much time as possible with his boys.

In late 1982 he was diagnosed with cancer of the aortic valve (from welding without protection from the welding arches). The family lost their gentle giant of a man to soon. He would have loved to see and be around all his grandchildren that Ronald and David gave him.

Anna lived another 35 years and a few days beyond Victor in the home he built for her. They built a life together from a smiling gaze across the field during school lunch period. A true love story of devotion and family.