INTRO TO B.E.
This presentation was developed in 2010 to recognize and document the contribution of Boleslaus E. Jakubowski (1903-1979) in service to his country during WWII. The significance of this contribution was discovered by Jay and Randall Steger resulting from Jay's interest in WWII history and Randall's interest in family history. Personal insight and photographs were provided by Ron Jaye.
B.E. Jakubowski was married to Sophie Jaye (nee Jakubowska) who is herein remembered and honored. He and Sophie separated in 1951. B.E. Jakubowski was father to Lorraine Steger (nee Jakubowska), Barbara Almeter (nee Jakubowska) and Ronald Jaye (nee Jakubowski). He was the estranged grandfather of Kathy, Kenneth, Carl and Adam Almeter and of Peter and Laura (Cassata) Jaye and of Paula (Bowan), Lawrence, Jay, Randall and Bradley Steger. He and his grandchildren never met.
The name “Boleslaus E. Jakubowski” is tedious to write or say. He was known to his family and friends as “Bill” and/or “Jake” (his preference). For the sake of brevity, he will be referred to here with respect as “B.E.”, where the reference of “grandpa” would have been nice.
B.E. Was in the Navy twice, as he volunteered to reenlist during WWII. He was also a Mounted Police patrolman before and after WWII. B.E. Was also top notch as a painter, a sculpturer, a wood carver and a carIcature artist. Below is a photo of a scupture he did of Sophie, set to bronze, This was done in 1948 without any posing, and as a surprize to her. It was an exact likeness.
from Ron's letter
I remember Bill as being a very studious and inquiring person. Some of his personal books, that I now have, are texts on drawing, illustrating, molding and casting (in art) and a six-volume law library. He used to sit and solve algebra problems out of a text book like they were crossword puzzles. Although his brothers Victor, John and Frank (in that order) were also pretty interesting, Bill stood out as the most creative and perhaps the most intense sibling.
Bill apparently graduated from Canisius High School (an accomplishment back then) and I have a photo of him as a member of the a varsity football team. There is no evidence that he graduated from college or of how long he attended. As a young man of 26, he apparently took a correspondence course in art. The self portrait, facial expression studies/sketches (that you should all have a copy of) were done in 1929 while he was taking that course.
As you all know, Bill was an extraordinary artist. He could sketch or paint or sculpt or carve, with excellence. He was also an accomplished artist. Remember what the old Catholic churches used to look like. They were very Gothic, very cluttered, very ornate and very European. Typically, there were very elaborate paintings (of Angels and Saints and sheep and stuff) on the ceilings of some of the larger, richer Parishes. Did you ever wonder how they got there? Bill joined with artist Tony Sisti who was commissioned to paint such a ceiling in one of the Catholic churches in Buffalo. Unfortunately, I don't know which one, yet. It probably doesn't matter now because the church has likely been modernized, if it survived.
Some of the things that I remember include an elaborate painting of the Last Supper that was done for John (now owned by his son Eugene Jakubowski’s family), a painting of a sunset behind palm trees on a South Pacific island and a variety of portraits and caricatures.
His only known sculpture is a bust of Grandma Jaye, done in natural gray clay. This Bust was not posed for, in that he accomplished it in our basement without anyone knowing. This was done in the late '40s. it was a perfect likeness of her. I chipped the nose off of it when Grandma Jaye gave it to me 30 years ago.
Then when Bill came to visit me in Albuquerque, in 1978, I showed him the Bust and told him that I would like to fix the nose someday but I wasn't sure of the exact shape. He promptly sketched what Sophie's nose looked like in the late 40's.
His wood carvings were also excellent. The only ones that I can locate are the large Buffalo Police Badge, that is hanging in my study, and two carvings of his Chihuahua dogs, that Ms. Edna Williams keeps in her house. There was also a large (18xl8xl0 in.) carving of a mounted policeman, on a horse, battling two or three rioters. Fantastic ! There were other very large carvings. I remember two separate, layge carvings of lovers. Anyway, he was very talented and he only depicted realism, never the abstract, and he did so in painstaking detail.
SCULPTURE
WOOD CARVING
CARICATURES
Precinct 16
