Wanda M. Grigoleit

ROTTERDAM – Wanda Mary Grigoleit, 95, was called by the angels on April 22, 2024 to live among them in Heaven.  She was the daughter of the late John August Ruskowski and Maria Apollonia Jasniewicz Ruskowski.

Wanda was a lifelong resident of Schenectady and Rotterdam, and was the youngest in a family of 10 children. Both of her parents moved to the United States from Poland, and Wanda grew up speaking both English and Polish fluently.

She as an excellent student while at Mont Pleasant High School in Schenectady, where she graduated in 1946, and earned an academic scholarship to attend the College of Saint Rose in Albany. Later on, she was employed by the General Electric Company in Schenectady for seven years.

Wanda also had a beautiful singing voice. She enjoyed making vinyl recordings of songs she sang with her family, using a recorder phonograph, which was the state-of-the-art for its time. Wanda also sang in the chorus of several Schenectady Light Opera performances including The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan in 1949, Wizard of the Nile by Victor Herbert in 1950, and The Chocolate Soldier in 1951.

She was very devoted to her Catholic faith, and attended mass daily. Wanda and her husband of 54 years, LeRoy, were charter members of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Rotterdam. She served as a Eucharistic minister at Ellis Hospital for 20 years, and also delivered communion to the homebound. And on occasion, Wanda’s editorial opinion on religious topics of interest was submitted and published in the Evangelist .

Wanda also made it a priority to capture milestone moments in pictures and eight millimeter home movies, such as her son’s graduations and his first bicycle ride without training wheels. In the 1980’s, she entered an amateur photo contest conducted by a local newspaper and won “honorable mention” for her entry.

Wanda will be remembered as a generous, kind hearted soul, who was meticulous and organized, a good listener, and willing to help anyone who needed her to.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband LeRoy Grigoleit, and her brothers and sisters: Stanley Ruskowski, Clara Ruskowski, Regina Ruskowski Wasniewski, Edward Ruskowski, Raymond Ruskowski, Carl Ruskowski, Casimir Ruskowski, John Ruskowski, and Aline Ruskowski Fuerst. Her son, James Grigoleit, along with several nieces, nephews, neighbors, and friends, will continue to cherish their memories of her.

Family and friends are invited to visit DeMarco-Stone Funeral Home at 1605 Helderberg Avenue in Rotterdam on Sunday April 28, 2024 from 2:00 pm through 4:00 pm. A Mass in memory of Wanda will be planned at a later date.