When Anthony Iwanski, Amsterdam’s first Polish funeral director passed away in 1928, his wife Helen took over the business he had started in 1913 and ran it while she raised her two young boys. Roman was ten years old when his Dad died and Chester, today’s Amsterdam Birthday Blog Celebrant, was just eight. Initially, Roman wanted to be a teacher but after two years at Albany State, he switched career choices and attended an embalming school in New York City. Chester graduated from Wilbur Lynch High School in the Class of 1939, graduated from the same embalming school as his older sibling and followed Roman into the family business in 1942, working for their mother. Their employment did not last long…

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