Irene B. Dabrowski, 94, a lifelong resident of Aquebogue, passed away on Thursday, February 16th, 2023, at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.
The daughter of Aniela “Angeline” (Prusinowska) and Mieczyslaw B. “Caesar” Dabrowski, Irene was born, along with her twin sister, Helen, on her grandparent’s farm in Aquebogue, on June 10th, 1928. Irene attended Aquebogue Grade School, and graduated from Riverhead High School in 1946. Following High School, she was employed in a variety of fields, including as a Title Searcher for an office in Riverhead, and as a Teller at Franklin Nation Bank (Riverhead branch). For 33 years, she worked at Bridgehampton Tennis & Surf Club, where she had a wide-array of duties, including arranging and planting the many flower gardens around the Ocean-front site.
Irene loved gardening. Having grown-up working on her family’s farm, she continued to grow vegetables and flowers throughout her life, and was looking forward to the flowers that she would plant this year. Other enjoyments were cooking, photography, beaches, travel, and music. She was a Certified Real Estate Broker and a Nurses’ Aide. Irene was a member of St. Isidore’s Altar Rosary Society and Ladies Auxiliary of the Riverhead Polish Hall.
According to her niece, Lisa A. Dabrowski, Irene’s love of music began at a very early age, when she and her twin sister, Helen, would sing Polish folk songs that were taught to them by their grandmother, Ewa Prusinowska. Then, in Grade School, their teacher would ask them, both, to sing to the class every morning before lessons began. Irene’s father instilled upon her, and each of her siblings, to learn an instrument, and in her late teens, she traveled with her father into the city, where he bought her an accordion. A few years ago, Lisa brought an accordion to her aunt’s house for her to play her favorites on, once again, and filmed Irene as she sang solo, and in duets with Lisa, singing those Polish folk songs of long ago.
Predeceased by her twin sister, Helen, in 2011, and sisters Natalie (Marshall Etter) of East Quogue in 2009 and Julianna (John Boyd) of Alabama in 1965, along with a nephew and a niece, Irene is survived by her sister Eugenia (Stanley Cherouski) of Jamesport, brother Conrad (Mary Jackowski) of Riverhead, and brother John Dabrowski (Maria Tobiasz) of Riverhead, as well as many nieces and nephews.
A Memorial Mass will be held on, what would have been her and her twin’s 95th birthday, Saturday, June 10th, 2023, 10AM, at St. Isidore’s R.C. Church, Pulaski Street, Riverhead, with a gathering of family and friends taking place, beforehand, at the Church, from 9AM – 10AM. Interment will follow at St. John’s Cemetery, Riverhead, NY.
Paid notice
