A long time ago in the far away land of Poland lived the Bochniak brothers Wincenty and Tomasz. Wincenty and his young wife Franciszka and young daughter Mary. They had a dream to make a better life for themselves and made the tough decision to leave Poland for the promised land of the United States. With young Mary in tow and another child on the way they made the treacherous voyage across the Atlantic with the final destination of Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the voyage Franciszka lost her baby before giving birth and had to bury the child at sea somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

Wincenty's brother Tomasz and his wife Katarzyna also left Poland in 1911 and joined Wincenty and Franciszka in Grand Rapids, MI.

During the course of their lives together, Wincenty and Franciszka were and integral part of the history of Grand Rapids. They were blessed with 13 children, 12 of whom who were very high achievers devoted to God and to their family. In the family there have been nuns, furniture makers, and craftsmen of all types who have made an everlasting impression of our lives.

Wincenty and Francizka were also blessed with the birth of a baby boy in 1911 named Piotr (Polish for Peter.) God had other plans for little Piotr and at the tender age of 2 months old he died. The family buried Piotr on 10/27/1911 in Holy Cross Cemetery in Grand Rapids, MI. Two years later his cousin Edward Bochniak ( son of Tomasz and Katarzyna) passed away at the age of 2 months old and the family buried these two little angels next to each other. For whatever reason the family never did complete the burial site with a tombstone. We suspect the family did not have the finances at the time to do so and it was forgotten over time.

100 years later in October 2011 the family got together and decided as a family to buy a modest tombstone for the site. Once word got out we were doing this, others wanted to contribute and be a part of the project. We did not exclude anyone and it was decided to open up an opportunity for any relatives who wanted to participate, no matter how large or small. We felt that something so worthy should be made available to all.

In October 2011 the family had the tombstone purchased and installed. On October 22nd 2011 the family joined together at Holy Cross to dedicate this marker.

Thanks be to God.