Harriet Gruzas

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Obituary from The Republican-American (Waterbury, CT) - Thursday, November 5, 2009:
WATERBURY - Mrs. Harriet (Vidutis) Gruzas, 97, of 1132 Meriden Road, died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, at Meridian Manor Health and Rehabilitation Center. She was the widow of Thomas J. Gruzas Sr.

Harriet was born Feb. 9, 1912, in New Britain, daughter of the late John and Anna (Brogis) Vidutis. She grew up and worked in New Britain. Upon marrying her husband, Thomas, on Feb. 14, 1930, she moved to Waterbury. She worked several jobs in the Waterbury area before retiring from G. Fox in the 1970s.

She was very proud of her Lithuanian heritage and enjoyed cooking several Lithuanian dishes including kugeli, pierogies, potato pancakes and apple pancakes. Throughout her life, she was very artistic. She loved the color purple and it was reflected through her hobbies, which included bead work, ribbon pictures, embroidery and tatting. She painted well into her 90s and in 2003 won a National Outstanding Artist Award for a Christmas card design for Five Star Quality Care Convalescent Homes.

She leaves her son and daughter-in-law, Raymond J. and Christine Gruzas of Bethany; her daughter, Dolores G. Stack of Waterbury; 10 grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her son, Thomas J. Gruzas Jr., her brother, William "Tony" Vidutis, her son-in-law, Eugene M. Stack Sr., and her great-granddaughter, Rae Marie Stack.

Arrangements: Funeral will leave the Kelly-Brennan Funeral Home, 768 Baldwin St., on Friday at 9:45 a.m. for St. Francis Xavier Church for a Mass at 10:30. Burial will follow in Old Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home on Friday before Mass from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.

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1920 Census
"United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCNM-JKC : 1 February 2021), Harriett Wedutes in entry for John Wedutes, 1920.

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1940 Census
"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWM9-RPR : 13 February 2020), Harriet Gruzas in household of Thomas Gruzas, Ward 4, Waterbury, Waterbury Town, New Haven, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 5-241, sheet 8A, line 38, family 154, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 521.