1930 Census, Pittsburgh City, Ward 23, Allegheny County, Pa.
817 Progress Street
John Gronkoski, Head, Owns Home, $6,000, 35, Grinder Steel Mill, b Poland, father b Poland, Mother b Pa.(as written), Immig 1912
Antonia, Wife, 34, b Lithuania, father b Poland, Mother b Pa., (as written), Immig. 1912
Marie, Dau, 8, b Pa.
Jennie, Dau, 6, b Pa.

Marie joined the Army Nurse Corps and served during World War II. She married Michael Curcio in 1945 and they had two daughters, Gloria and Linda. Born December 8, 1921, Marie died in December 1984.

SISTER'S OBITUARY - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Helen (Gronkoski) Ferketic - Died on Tues., July 23, 2002; beloved wife of Robert Ferketic; mother of Mary D. of Arlington, VA, Jane M. of Huntington, MD & Robert Jr. Ferketic of Lakewood, OH; grandmother of Mary Beth; sister of Jane Smith of Pgh., Walter Gronkoski of Biloxi, Miss. Preceded in death by a sister, Marie Curcio & parents John & Antonia Gronkoski. Burial at Holy Family Church. Arrangements by Evans Funeral Home, Bowie, MD.

CURCIO, MICHAEL S., 91, of Absecon, passed away Thursday night, June 5, at Kindred Hospital in Philadelphia from complications of a spinal cord injury resulting from a fall in his home on March 18.

Michael is predeceased by his wife, Marie G. Curcio, sister Eleanor Maglione, and brothers Philip Curcio and Thomas Curcio. He is survived by his daughters, Gloria Irwin and husband Robert G. Irwin, Sr. of Egg Harbor Township, and Linda Shelton of Baltimore, Maryland; grandsons Robert G. Irwin, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth of Egg Harbor Township and Michael L. Irwin and his wife Beverly of Mays Landing; great-granddaughters Rebecca Marie Irwin and Emilie Katherine Irwin; sisters Gloria Curcio of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, and Ann LaVecchia and her husband Octavio of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; sister-in-law Jane Smith of Pittsburgh, Pa.; brothers-in-law Robert Ferketic, Sr. of Bowie, Maryland; Walter Gronkoski of Biloxi, Mississippi; nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great nephews.

Michael was fortunate to have a long and fulfilling life, enjoying the quality of life the town of Absecon has to offer and independence in his own home. He enjoyed the concerts in the town park and enjoyed many walks around the pond. His friends at the Faunce Landing docks gave him many afternoons of conversation and comradeship. His neighbors were a great source of friendship and companionship and they have been wonderful friends during the past two months of his hospitalization. He was a thoughtful, caring friend and a loving, devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, and uncle.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard before joining the U.S. Army as a trombonist member of the U.S. Army Band at West Point. During that time he took music lessons from Arthur Pryor in New York City. After four years he took a commission as Chief Warrant Officer in the Finance Corp. and became a veteran of WWII, stationed in Iceland, Wales, and France, where he met his wife, Marie, a U.S. Army Nurse. They were married in July of 1945 in France, and enjoyed a happy marriage until she predeceased him in 1984. During his military career, he also served in the Korean War, during which time he was awarded the Bronze Star. His final rank as CW4 was achieved before retirement in 1956 after 23 years of service.

Upon retirement from the U.S. Army, in 1956, he and his family moved from Aberdeen, Maryland to Northfield, New Jersey, where he began another career with the First National Bank of Absecon. He became active in the American Institute of Banking, taking many courses, and working his way through the offices of the local chapter to President. He retired from the Absecon Bank in 1976 after 20 years of service.

For fifteen years he was a hospital volunteer at Shore Memorial Hospital, recently receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award. He was a member of the Mature Adults of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton R.C. Church and volunteered many times in the kitchen for various church functions as well as usher during Mass. He kept his love of music a part of his life by playing trombone many years ago in an orchestra in Atlantic City, more recently the violin in the South Jersey Pops Orchestra in Medford, New Jersey, and the banjo in their string band. Every night he played a song on the violin for his daughter. He spent several years compiling his family history, typed his own autobiography and the biography of his wife, and collected many ancestral documents into one historical volume.

Funeral Services are being handled by Parsels Funeral Home, Absecon. Viewing is 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 10, 2003 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, followed by a funeral Mass at 10 a.m., and burial at Holy Cross Cemetery immediately following Mass.