Serena, Woodrow, & Esther Polewada
Baruch Polewada, a native of Poland, married Jennie Monetta of Ohio in 1898. In 1922, after making their way to Laflore County, Mississippi, and having six children, Baruch, a deliveryman, died. Jennie died in 1928. The Greenwood Commonwealth described Baruch as “an honored citizen and good man” and Jennie as “an excellent woman, and loved by all who knew her.”
In 1929, the three youngest Polewada children – Serena (13), Woodrow Wilson (11), and Esther (10) – were admitted to the Home.
Baruch and Jennie Polewada, 1928. Courtesy of Michael Cohen (grand nephew of Woodrow, Serena, and Esther Polewada), and William Binder (Michael’s third cousin).
Serena lived in the Home until 1934, when she was discharged to an aunt in Lakeland. Florida. She later married, taking the name Serena Marlar. She reportedly worked for 39 years as an accountant for Southern Bell and BellSouth until her retirement in 1975, when she moved to Miami to live with her sister, Esther. Serena died in 2003 at age 86 and was buried in Greenwood, Mississippi.
Serena Polewada, 1932, likely at the Home’s summer camp in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. From Ancestry.com.
Woodrow remained in the Home until 1937, following his graduation at the top of his class at Samuel J. Peters Commercial High School for Boys. With the scholarship he won for his academic standing, Woodie (as he was known) attended Louisiana State University for college and for medical school. While in medical school, Woodie returned to the Home, where he received free room and board in exchange for his work as a student counselor.
Woodie later married Willianese Green, a child welfare worker in Mobile, Alabama, where he practiced medicine and they raised two daughters.
Woodie died in 1988 and was buried in Mobile.
Woodrow (“Woodie”) Wilson Polewada, Louisiana State University “Gumbo” Yearbook, 1941.
Esther also left the Home in 1937, placed into the care of her eldest sister, Fay Polewada Lambert, who was married and living in Greenwood, Mississippi. By the time Fay died in 2002, Esther was living in Miami with Serena.
Esther Rose Polewada, who remained single, died in 2012 in Miami at age 92, and was buried with Serena and Fay in Greenwood, Mississippi.
Undated photo of Fay Polewada (who was not admitted to the Home) with her younger sister, Esther. Courtesy of William Binder and Michael Cohen.
The Polewada siblings, 1940s, from left: Morris, Fay, Leon, Serena, Woodrow, and Esther. Only Serena, Woodrow, and Esther lived in the Home, and reunited with their older siblings after their discharge. Courtesy of Michael Cohen (Morris’s grandson) and William Binder (whose father was a first cousin to the Polewada siblings).