HUSBAND   Peter Symochko

WIFE        Rozalia Kondratyk

Peter Symochko was born in Wysowa, Poland on March 26, 1958 to Michael and Natalia (Peroh) Symochko. Peter was the fourth child of four children, the oldest John (died at age of 5, due to an appendix operation), second oldest was Stefan (died at age of 6 months, due to pneumonia), then third oldest was Helen.
I lived in Wysowa with my parents, my sister and my Grandmother (Anastazia Rydzik, mother of Natalia Peroh) on a small farm. I don't remember much of my life from there except that one time my father put me on the horse we had, and tied a big rope around the horse's neck and I rode the horse in a circle. It was a big thing for me. I also remember having a friend named Janek and that we used to play together. Shortly after I turned six years old we all (including grandmother) made the big move to America (November 17, 1964).
We arrived in New York City and came to live on I Mulberry Street in Yonkers, New York. I started going to grammar school (PS 47). I remember the beginning was tough, because of the language problem. The very first words I learned were "No speak English". After two years of living on Mulberry Street we moved to my stryk's (Marko Symochko's Great Uncle) house on 106 Yonkers Avenue also in Yonkers.
I remember my father used to give me haircuts. One time when I was in the fourth grade he kept on evening out my hair so much that by the time he was finished I hardly had any hair left. I was ashamed to go to school, but I had no choice so I put a hat on and would not take it off when I arrived in school. But, of course the teacher made me take it off. I was pretty embarrassed. After that, my father didn't cut my hair anymore. In sixth grade I went to Washington D.C. on a school trip. I remember having a real good time. During the trip we went out to eat (my first time in a restaurant). It was a buffet dinner. Everything looked so good. I remember taking all kinds of desserts and other foods, but I guess my eyes could eat more than my stomach would take. At least half went to waste.
After living for about four years in my stryk's apartment house we then needed to move again. Stryk was forced to sell his home to the city just to be knocked down so the city could widen the road. We moved to 13 Mulberry Street, where we lived for approximately eight years. During this time I was in middle school (Longfellow) and became friends with Dymitr Felenczak and Bogdan Wislocki. We later became best buddies and still are.
I remember in winters I used to sleigh ride down Croton Terrace (this was a steep street) or sometimes I would go to Tibetts Park. When I was a little older, I spent a lot of Sunday mornings ice skating and playing hockey on a pond in Tibetts with my friends. In the summer we would pack food and drinks and head to Glen Island Park swimming with my family and my cousins John and Mark Ryzyk. Peter Ryzyk (John and Mark's Father) would drive us along with some other friends of my parents that had cars. We would go swimming on the beach and have picnics there. We also would go to Lemko Park in Monroe, New York for Festivals (still do).
My father worked first for Precision Valve then he got a job as a grounds keeper for John D. Rockefeller (Governor of New York, at one time). He later got a job in Yonkers General Hospital working in maintenance until he retired.
My mother first worked in a small shop on Walnut Street in Yonkers, where she made notebooks. Then she got a job at War Leonard Electric Co. in Mt. Vernon, New York, where she worked as an Inspector. She worked there until she was forced to retire after 20 years (She was 59 then) because the company closed down and at the same time my Grandmother broke her leg and she needed to take care of her.
During my Junior High School years I remember we used to hang around the neighborhood a lot, ride our bikes around the street until one of my friends got a car and we would do a lot of cruising around Yonkers. We also played touch football or we would go to the church educational building where we played basketball on the church league. I remember a lot of good times around the "Old neighborhood".
I went to Saunders Trade and Technical High School, took Technical Electricity as my major, then went to Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York and received all Associates Degree in Electrical Technology. Filially, I went to Fairleigh Dickenson University, and received a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology.
For my first year of college my father bought me my first car, a brand new one. At the time, I was the only driver in the family, so I had to drive everyone where they needed to go. During my college years, I worked a few jobs. One was In a Funeral Home cleaning tip (vacuuming, dusting and throwing out garbage) after a wake. Then I worked in Woolworth's Store as a Stock Boy. During summer I worked in a Carvel Factory, where they would make the machines and other things for Carvel Stores. Another summer I worked on a pond, renting boats and collecting money for parking cars. Later on I got a job in Lawrence hospital working in the laundry department and later as a messenger delivering patient records, medicine, etc. throughout the hospital.
During my college years, I spent a lot of time going to Polish Dances in New Jersey (every weekend). We would also go to the Lemko Club in Yonkers to play pool. During summer, we would go to Upstate New York to Suma and Verkhovyna to Ukrainian Festivals. A lot of our summer days were also spent on Jones Beach in Long Island going swimming, playing volleyball or just laying out and getting a tan.
After college I finally got my first "real" job as an Electrical Design Engineer, then later a Test Engineer for General DataComm in Danbury, Connecticut. The company later moved to Middlebury, Connecticut, but I'm still working there.
When I started working for General DataComm in Danbury, due to a long commute (over an hour) I wound up moving in with my sister, Helen and her husband, John, in Shelton, Connecticut for a few years, until eventually I bought a condominium in Thomaston, Connecticut. This was closer to work and more importantly my own place.
I met my wife, Helen (Slota) Symochko at her brothers wedding, where she was a bridesmaid. I got up enough courage to ask her out on a date. She couldn't believe I asked her out since I came to the wedding with another girl. But the other girl turned out to be my cousin Anna (Symochko) Barna who was visiting here from Poland. On our first date, I took her to a Japanese Restaurant (Kabuki's) where they cook the food in front of you, and then to a dance club. We had a lot of fun. We still go to the Japanese Restaurant for dinners on our special occasions.
Helen was born on October 2, 1965 in Miedzyrzecze, Poland to Samuel and Joanna (Kuncik) Slota and came to America with her family on April 15, 1981. She has an Associate Degree in Science Data Processing Technology but ended up pursuing her career as a Payroll Specialist, until she became a mother of our children and decided to stay home and just be a mom.
During our dating years we had a lot of good times. We went on many vacations together (to Wildwood, NJ, and Cape May, NJ, Canada, Maine, Virginia Beach, Florida) and had a great time. After about three years of dating I finally asked her to many me and we made arrangements to get married the following year. Shortly before our wedding my Uncle John Durkot (my father's sisters husband) died of cancer.
We got married in The Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist in Bridgeport, Connecticut on May 30, 1992 and had the reception in Lemko Hall in Yonkers, New York. We went on a cross-country honeymoon for one month. We drove all the way to California and back. This was our most memorable vacation we had been on and we sure would like to do it again sometime. During the same year my Grandmother Anastazia died. She was around 95 years old.
After two years of marriage, on April 7, 1994, our first son Peter Nikolai Symochko was born, He kept us so busy before we knew a year went by and on May 27, 1995 our second son was born Nicholas Michael Symochko. Both of them were born in Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut. They play together very well and Nicholas is doing a great job measuring up to his big brother.
Having two kids has slowed us down a lot. My mother always told us to stay home and rest, instead of always going somewhere. Well, I guess she got her wish about staying home but we definitely don't get much rest anymore. We still go on vacations, sometimes we take my parents and sometimes Helen's, but with Helen being from a family of seven, there always seems to be a birthday or some family event around the comer. Although life is a lot different then it used to be, we love every minute of it.