Rogers City loses well-known businessman

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Richard (Dick) Rygwelski, a third generation sausage maker from the famed neighborhood business, Rygwelski?s IGA, passed away Saturday at the age of 71. He had been battling a rare form of cancer for several years, before the disease started to slow him last August. He is survived at home by his wife of 48 years, Ellie. A complete obituary appears on page 7A.

Rygwelski owned the shop from 1974 to 2004, before retiring to the Grand Lake cottage he helped his family build as a teenager. Dick and Ellie passed the keys of the business to their daughter Kathy and her husband Jim Romel, who have continued the family tradition of making and selling homemade sausages. DICK?S GRANDFATHER Stanley started the business with partner Stanley Mulka. The original location was a building razed in 2002, which is now an empty lot used for extra parking for Greka?s Bar.

Herman Rygwelski took ownership from his dad and the store moved further down South First Street to its present location Labor Day weekend 1941. Dick worked in the store as a child, but after high school joined the Marines. ?He came back and met me in Posen,? said Ellie. ?He went to college for a year, didn?t like it, then he went sailing. Then his dad begged him to come to work. That was probably when he was 2

4. So, he had been there since then.? Ellie said the business evolved under her husband?s direction, turning the primary focus to meats and specialty sausages.

?THE KIELBASA business really grew when he got into it,? she said. ?He started to experiment more with landjaeger, jerky and hickory sticks. ?Glen?s (Market) came in and Mr. Ed?s got bigger. Although we have all the groceries you need, people come in for the meat.? Daughter Karen Senkus of Sault Ste. Marie believes her father enjoyed the social aspect of the business, always delivery a joke for any familiar customer who asked Dick to tell one.

?He really enjoyed the people,? said Karen. Dick also was a charitable businessman, regularly donating food to St. Bernard?s soup kitchen in Alpena, as well as other small local charities. ?After retirement we went on a lot of trips to Poland, Ireland, Alaska, out west for three weeks,? said Ellie. ?We vacationed in Alabama for four winters. We did a lot of really good stuff before he got sick.? The lifelong Rogers City resident enjoyed golfing, fishing and playing Spitzer. Rygwelski?s has been serving customers of the area for more than 90 years.