Mary Anne Krupsak was the smart-as-a-whip granddaughter of Mike Wytrwal, the Polish-born coal miner, who had migrated from Scranton, PA to Amsterdam’s Reid Hill in the early 1900’s. He became one of this town’s most successful entrepreneurs and one of the most influential democratic bosses in the history of the Rug City. Mary Anne’s parents ran the pharmacy Wytrwal had opened in 1910 and she spent her childhood years attending St Stan’s school and watching her grandfather help Reid Hill’s Polish residents get jobs, loans, or whatever else they might need to help their families overcome problems and hardships.

She went on to get her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, her masters from Boston University and a law degree from the University of Chicago. She then went to work as an assistant in New York Governor …

You can read the rest of my story about this Amsterdam native in my new book “A Year’s Worth of Amsterdam Birthdays.” To order your copy, click here.