SHENANDOAH — The founder of Ateeco Inc., the maker of Mrs. T’s Pierogies, has something new to hang on his wall after the Shenandoah Valley school board made him an honorary Shenandoah Valley graduate.
At Monday’s meeting, the school board awarded the high school diploma to Theodore F. “Ted” Twardzik “in recognition for his lifelong achievements, dedication and philanthropy to the Shenandoah community,” according to the meeting agenda.
After the unanimous vote, acting Superintendent Anthony P. Demalis Jr. presented the diploma to board Vice President Thomas Twardzik, who accepted it on behalf of his father, who was not in attendance.
After the meeting, Twardzik smiled as he looked over his father’s diploma, which was in a thick, padded, folding cover.
“This is very nice,” he said.
Board President Daniel Salvadore explained that even though Ted Twardzik is a native of and was raised in Shenandoah, he did not graduate from the borough school system.
“I wanted Mr. Twardzik on the ‘Wall of Fame’ for many years, but he did not officially graduate from the Shenandoah school system,” Salvadore said, referring to the “Wall of Fame” where three graduates are chosen every year for the significant contributions in their careers (education, medicine, financial, etc.) in the world. The Wall of Fame display is located in the lobby of the high school.
Thomas Twardzik said a major mine subsidence in Shenandoah in the 1940s led to his father to graduate from Mahanoy Township High School, which was located about a mile away from Shenandoah on state Route 54.
According to “My Shenandoah, 1966,” a book recently published by author and Shenandoah native Andy Ulicny, the mine subsidence caused major damage to the George Washington School building, which had been the town’s high school until the building to become known as J.W. Cooper High School was constructed in 1916. The Washington building at the time of the subsidence was the junior high school.
“The story that I have been given was that the option for the students was that they could go to Shenandoah half-days or go to Mahanoy Township full days,” Twardzik said. “My dad opted for full days, so he went to Mahanoy Township and eventually graduated in his senior year as a ‘Purple Lark.’ My mom’s class was the first class that went all four years at Cooper after the mine subsidence.”
Twardzik was not sure of when his father graduated from Mahanoy Township, but said it was probably in 1944 or 1945, after which he entered military service, and later graduated in 1951 from the University of Notre Dame.
“This is an honorary diploma and it is well deserved,” Salvadore said. “I don’t know anybody personally who served Shenandoah better.”
“He’ll be proud to have to have joined in the ranks with his good friend, Jerry Wolman, who also received an honorary diploma,” Twardzik said.
Ted Twardzik grew up watching his mother, Mary Twardzik — the actual “Mrs. T” — and her friends making homemade pierogies for church fundraisers. According to the Ateeco website, www.pierogy.com, her son Ted, “Watched and learned from his mother and sampled plenty of the results. It wasn’t until he graduated from college and worked for a year in an accounting firm that he realized this Polish specialty might have wider appeal. He figured if they did so well at church suppers, why not try the supermarket?”
When he returned to Shenandoah, he began making pierogies on the same kitchen table where his mother made them. It took about six weeks before his mother told him to move the pierogi-making venture out of her kitchen to alleviate the mess. Twardzik set up headquarters in his father’s former tavern and began churning out pierogies by the dozen. His first commercial sale was to a local grocery store, Capitol Market, then located on North Main Street in Shenandoah, on Oct. 8, 1952, which is now commemorated as “National Pierogie Day,” complete with its own official flag.
In other business, the school board:
• Approved a committee recommendation for permanent expulsion of a student
•Accepted letter of resignation from substitute teacher Stephanie Kalenkoski
•Approved the Schuylkill County Guest Teacher Program/New Emergency Certification List
•Approved a letter of agreement to participate in the Student Assistance Program
•Approved a consortium electricity purchasing contract with Constellation New Energy Inc. After the meeting, Demalis said that it is a two-year contract, that will end June 2019, and will include 26.6 percent reduction in electrical costs in what the district is paying now
•Approved a $1,000 donation to the Shenandoah Area Public Library. A donation to the Frackville Free Public Library will made at another meeting.
•Purchased a $100 advertisement in the 2016 yearbook
•Accepted the resignations of Beth Huggins, teacher’s aide, and Eva Bialecki, cafeteria server
•Approved Eva Bialecki as a substitute cafeteria employee
•Approved advertising for a maintenance position
•Accepted from SimplexGrinnell a quote of $6,221 to repair the fire line piping on the school district grounds
“The piping is the main line that comes into the school to provide water for the sprinkler system,” Demalis explained. “It’s been leaking for a little while and Dave (Lukashunas, maintenance supervisor) got a clamp that took care of the leak, but it started leaking in other places so the line needs to be replaced. We’re hoping to get the repairs done in one day, such as on an Act 80 day, when there won’t be as many people here. It’s a big line and an original line.”