Code,800019 Subject,"Ben S. Stefanski II, Polish Cultural Garden" Date, Interviewer, Abstract,"Ben S. Stefanski II, of the Polish Cultural Garden, recollects on his involvement in Cleveland's Cultural Garden. He discusses his earliest memories of the Cultural Gardens, the importance of the Polish Cultural Garden in particular, flowers and layout of the Cultural Gardens, and the creation of busts within the Polish Cultural Garden. Other topics include his family history, vandalism and theft in the gardens, and the uniqueness of the Cultural Gardens." Special Notes,Cuts In and Out throughout interview minutes:, 1,Introduction to project 2,Introduction to project 3,"Ben Estefaski, Polish" 4,"Fathers parents settled on Fleet avenue, Mothers parents lived St. Claire" 5,"Proud of Polish heritage, reflective of values and traditions, tribute to the values his grandparents instilled in parents" 6,"Earliest memory of gardens in early 1960's, parents gave a bronze bust of Procurnokus (spelling), involved in the process" 7,"Interested in gardens at age 18, gardens honor people who have helped promote culture" 8,"1970's vandalism, break in the tape, 1996 no busts in gardens, Sincytiech (spelling) bust" 9,"Break in tape, African American plant flowers" 10,"African American gardens filled with flowers, break in tape, Catholic Churches" 11,"Banking business, father dyslexic, all business transactions were read to him" 12,"Dyslexic article helped family realize that father, brother were dyslexic" 13,Father waited for his wife to finish college 14,"Father only finished ninth grade, father first worked in factory, (dead air)" 15,"Fisher and Geru, creating bust, plaster replica kept, create the exact bust" 16,"Washington D.C., Matt Simcheck (spelling)" 17,1938 the bank opened 18,"Father was a major polish figure, gave mortgages to people who could not receive them" 19,"Reputation that they would give people mortgages no matter what mother went to Notre Dame College, masters in social work" 20,Mother journalist so father waited for wife to finish school because wife held skills that could help him 21,"Should open up the bank 131st and Miles had indoor plumbing, Slavic Village rebuilding" 22,"Difficult to get large tracks of land, mortgages are easy to make, Cleveland Central Catholic" 23,St. Stanislaus (spelling) would hire the top members of the class to work for the bank 24,"These individuals did not go to college but were very bright, mostly women and went on to become the top members in the company because know business." 25,"Went to gardens in the 1950's, St. Casmir's Parish, gardens part of life" 26,"Gardens part of life, vacation to Florida" 27,Things happen throughout the ones life to encourage them to do something 28,"St. Casmir location to garden, busts throughout gardens, Madam Curry, Pope John Paul II," 29,"Mischevich (spelling) adding new busts, fundraising hard, not much interest in the Polish gardens from Polish community" 30,"Polish people interested in their own lives instead of sharing it with others, deep recognition of their heritage and nationality, example of St. Stan's Polish festival people come from all over" 31,"People were embarrassed of their Polish heritage, change in times" 32,"Someone will leave money for a bust, it will take time, Cleveland Cultural Gardens are unique" 33,"Gardens not recognized, gardens have to be publicized" 34,"Rockefeller park, bike trail, 10 years ago would not see anyone but residents, today see a lot of individuals" 35,"Flags in garden put in during the bicentennial, he was a gardener lived in a condominium can not have a garden so became the gardener of the Polish gardens" 36,"Theft in gardens alerted people to the gardens and have increased activity and volunteering, types of flowers planted" 37,"Planting flowers, Slovak garden next to the Polish garden, Czech garden, Russian Garden" 38,"Italian garden flowers were stolen, Liberty Road" 39,"Dead air, grandparents lived above Liberty Road" 40,"Trees cut, flags put up along the road, renaming the road, should have taken the name East Road," 41,"East 9th Street, 1985 named MLK Drive, George Forbes and city council decided, medallions lost" 42,"High accident area, Liberty Row memory for soldiers who were killed in WWI, given bronze medallions, Oak Trees planted next to medallions" 43,"Liberty Row extends about 6 or 7 miles, dead air," 44,"Conducting digs to find the medallions," , , 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,