Wally Just

Name changed from Juszczak to Just - Milwaukee County Register of Deeds March 18, 1952.

From daughter Jeanette: My dad was a card shark, so it is befitting that his best piece of advice came from poker… in life, you play the hand you’re dealt. He grew up in Milwaukee during the depression, the oldest of 10 kids born to Polish immigrant parents. He got an accordion at an early age, and music became a lifelong passion and profession for much of his life. He told me that it was music that saved his life when he was drafted into WWII and was able to trade a rifle for a horn in the army band. Upon returning from war, he met and married my mom, Antoinette, and started a family. Twenty years later she died unexpectedly leaving him to raise seven kids on his own, the youngest (me) just three years old. Every life has its defining moment, and this was his. Do you play, or do you fold? He played…and by all accounts, he won. He eventually remarried… to Jan, and adopted her two kids, whom he always treated as his own. Although he had a successful career in advertising during the day and played music on the weekends, when I was growing up, I never knew my dad had any other job than being a dad. He enjoyed good health and lived to see his 90th birthday a couple of months ago, although by then old age had taken the best of him. The moments I was able to spend caring for him in the past few months as he grew weak and frail filled me not with sadness, but rather with a surprising sense of gratitude for the opportunity to give back, even if in a small way, to the person who gave so much to me. I will always remember him with the greatest respect and love. R.I.P. daddio. 7/17/13