Danuta Muraszew

Danuta Muraszew, age 72, of Woodland Park, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Saturday, October 16, 2021.

Danuta was born in Lobez Poland and raised in Debno Poland. She attended a Polytechnical University in Szczecin, Poland where she earned a Master’s degree in Economics.

In her early twenties, Danuta moved to Krakow Poland. There she worked and met many lifelong friends. It was a city that impressed her so much, for the rest of her life, if asked where she was originally from, she’d say she was from Krakow. In her late twenties, Danuta received a chance to move to the United States. Selling everything she owned, she seized that chance and moved to New York City where she got a job in the prestigious Wellington Hotel. Danuta started with humble beginnings as a cleaning lady and, through hard work and dedication, over the span of her entire career with the hotel, she rose to the position of Director of Housekeeping. It was a job that she loved for 25 years and during which she helped many other fellow immigrants by providing them a steady job at the hotel.

Danuta was an amazing woman who, as a single mom, tirelessly dedicated her love and devotion to her daughter Magdalena “Maggie”. During those twenty-five plus years living together in Queens, she worked at the hotel by day and lovingly exposed Maggie to spectacular and interesting cultural experiences in NYC whenever they had time, after work and on weekends. Together they made frequent visits to beautiful art museums and photo exhibits, learning about U.S. and Polish culture. Danuta also made sure she taught Maggie to read, write and speak fluently in the Polish language. Having learned through her economics education how to squeeze the greatest value possible out of every dollar she earned, Danuta was able to take Maggie on a variety of trips every year. Together they visited countries including Poland, France, and Italy, as well as traveling all around the US to places such as: Alaska, Hawaii, the midwest and west coast. While in Italy, she and Maggie even got to meet Pope John Paul II in person.

Danuta loved to dress fashionably and she loved going dancing with her friends. But, while being classy and pretty was great fun, she equally loved going fishing while taking trips to her lake house in Glen Spey, NY or on annual visits to Lake George, NY. She also loved nature and liked hiking.

Danuta’s faith was an important part of her life. When Maggie was a little girl, they attended Mass regularly. Her Catholic faith was always there to guide her through the challenges of life. Next to her devotion to God, Danuta was eternally devoted to her family. She adored her two little granddaughters Katherine and Natalia to pieces and was always spoiling them as any good grandmother would. Danuta touched the hearts of many good people and will be dearly missed by all who were blessed to have known her.

Danuta was the most loving mother of Magdalena “Maggie” and her husband Jerry Kowalski of Wayne, cherished grandmother of Katherine and Natalia Kowalski, dear sister of Henryk and wife Anna Knapik of Queens,NY and dear aunt of Martin Knapik and Christopher Knapik.

Those planning an expression of sympathy in Danuta’s name are asked to consider donating to:

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Memorial Processing
501 St. Jude Place
Memphis, TN 38105-9959
To donate online, click here (www.stjude.org)