Barbara Provci

December 5, 1932 to December 11, 2024

PROVCI, Barbara   Age 92  of Taylor

Barbara Provci, also known as Barb in English or Basia in Polish, was born in Sulmierzyce, Poland. When she was 6 years old, World War II started and her family was taken from their home to Labor camps in Germany where the men were separated from the women.

Years later, they were moved to a displaced person's camp where Barb, her Mother, Eva, and her sisters Celia, Maryann, Helen and Jan were reunited with her father, Stanley, and her brothers Leon and Johnny.  She learned English in the camps and their food was rationed.  When she was 12 years old, World War II ended, and she remembered the American soldiers liberating her camp. They soldiers rode in on tanks, throwing candy to her and the other children. A family with a farm in Shreveport, Louisiana, sponsored her family's passage to America where they all worked as indentured servants for 2 years to pay for their trip. She made the voyage with her family in the hull of a cargo ship. It took them a month to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and the ship almost sunk once. They went thru Ellis Island and landed in Shreveport, Louisiana.  They all lived in a one-room house while working on the farm and going to school. After they fulfilled their work obligation, at the age of 14, she moved with her family to Gary, Indiana. Her Dad worked in the steel mills and she worked in a hosiery factory, attending night school to get her high school diploma. She graduated at the top of her class, fluent in English and Polish.  Shortly after graduating, she studied and took the test to become a Naturalized American citizen of the United States of America. She was very proud to be a Polish-American.

She met Jim at a dance club near Chicago area while she was out dancing with her friends. Jim was a sailor and after a few dates, he had to leave for a few months, so he gave her a pair of diamond earrings to remember him. She wrote to him, and when he returned, they reunited and got engaged shortly after. They were  married on September 17, 1966, in a very large Polish wedding. Jim landed a merchant marine job on the Iron Ore ships owned by Ford Motor Company and they moved to Michigan.

Jim and Barb had two daughters, Yvonne and Brenda. Barb stayed home with their daughters while Jim sailed the Great Lakes for 25 years, returning home every 5 days and home during the winter while the boats were dry docked. Jim always would say he chose a strong woman because she was going to have to do a lot on her own. Barbara took care of her daughters, managed all the household chores and finances, and often walked everywhere with her daughters. She learned to drive five years after they married with her daughters beside her and then drove them to dance classes, piano lessons and church.  She wanted them to have all the things she never had growing up. Barbara enjoyed taking family boat trips with Jim and her daughters on the ship her husband worked on a couple times a year. They often drove hours together to visit family in Ohio and Indiana and drove to the ocean for family summer vacations.  Barb loved going to Las Vegas with Jim to see dance shows, comedians, and concerts including Elvis. Barb and Jim loved to dress up, and Barb always dressed very classy in her own unique style. Since Barb was only 5 feet tall and Jim was 6'2" she always wore heels, and she would stand on the steps to kiss Jim goodbye whenever he left.

Barb taught her daughters that family comes first after God and to always help others. She would stop and help strangers who would often become new friends. She saw an older lady once walking alone after church on Mother's day and asked her to lunch.  She said "No one should be alone on Mother's day." The lady's name was Vera and she was from Poland. They became very close friends and became family to us. A couple years later when Barb went back to Poland for the first time since the war, she stayed with Vera's family. Vera's family and her family all became dear friends and are still very close 40 years later.  She taught her daughters more about history more than any school ever could. She took Brenda to Poland when she was in high school. She took Jim and Yvonne with her after Yvonne graduated from Veterinary school. She taught them all about the Polish culture by example, talking in Polish and staying with friends.  Their friends drove them all over Poland, shopping in open-markets, going to salt mines and Polish castles, eating authentic food, and walking thru the memorials of the camps of World War II.  She told them about her experiences and always said "Never forget." She ignited an interest and connection to her past and her Polish culture that made them all of them proud to be Polish-American.

When Jim retired in his early 50's to spend more time with Barb, Yvonne and Brenda, they continued to explore new adventures together. Barb and Jim cheered on their daughters at school events, dance events and horse shows, went fishing together and dressed up like movie stars to go out to dinner and to family events.  She loved to take photos and always had a beautiful smile. She taught he daughters to be kind, honest, work hard, help others, have fun, laugh, and to be grateful to God for all their blessings. She always put God and her family first in life and loved socializing with family and friends. On holidays she told them that its a Polish tradition to set an extra place at the table in case anyone stopped by, which often happened.

Barb loved Jim, her husband of 53 years, beyond words and loved doing anything with him. They loved to laugh and play practical jokes on each other and friends. She enjoyed singing, dancing, cooking, walking, and fishing with Jim.  When she introduced Jim to morels, they began their adventures in mushroom hunting. They joined the Michigan Mushroom Hunting Club and traveled all over together looking for mushrooms.  Jim often led the mushroom hunts and Barb found mushrooms that no one else could find. She never gave up her secrets and would often disappear for hours into the woods, emerging with a basket overflowing with morels and wild mushrooms and a story about how she almost got lost. They made many friends, cooked new mushroom recipes, had mushroom dinners with their new friends and enjoyed crazy adventures, even traveling to Colorado in search for morels. She loved exploring the woods and when they were in the mountains out West, they would say they are "in God's country."

Jim and Barb's youngest daughter, Brenda, passed away unexpectedly shortly after her marriage to Mark Broses in 1993. Mark and his family remained very close to Barb, Jim and Yvonne, and she loved them with all her heart. Mark visited her often, and she always had a huge smile on her face when she would see Mark and his family.

Just after their 53rd wedding anniversary in 2019, Jim was diagnosed with an illness and passed away unexpectedly a few months later in a hospital. Barb missed Jim every day and would kiss her wedding ring whenever she talked about him.

Barbara still had some work to do before she joined him. She spent the next 4 years sharing her strength, knowledge, and sense of humor, with Yvonne, and they realized they were more alike than they realized. She often kissed her crucifix on her necklace and taught Yvonne that faith, love, and spending time together were the most important things in life.  She dressed up and put her jewelry and make up on every day, like she was going out dancing. Barb was always gracious and grateful to others. When someone helped her, she always thanked them and blew them kisses.  She celebrated her 90th, 91st and 92nd birthdays surrounded by family and friends who honored and loved her and sang her "Sto lat" (100 years) in Polish.

Barbara was a sweet, kind, and classy lady. She was an amazing, loving mother and a devoted and loving wife. Barb left an unforgettable impression on anyone that met her.  With her, strangers became friends and friends became family. She lived a long, beautiful and adventurous life.  She is now reunited with her beloved husband, Jim and their daughter Brenda, and she is smiling down on all of us.  She was loved by all and will be deeply missed. She will live on forever in our hearts.

Visitation for Barbara will be Sunday, December 15, 2024, and Monday, December 16, 2024, 1:00 to 8:00pm at the Taylor Chapel of Howe-Peterson Funeral Home and Cremation Services, located on 9800 Telegraph Rd. Funeral Mass will be Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at 11:00am at St. Alfred Catholic Church, located on 24175 Baske St. in Taylor.