ALTHEA PRZYBYLO KROGER – BURLINGTON – Althea Przybylo Kroger, 65, passed away at Vermont Respite House on Aug. 30, 2012, after a courageous battle with lung cancer.
Althea was born in Chicago, Ill., on Oct. 9, 1946. She attended St. Helen’s Elementary School in Chicago (1960); Mount St. Mary’s Secondary School in St. Charles, Ill. (1964); St. Louis University (St. Louis, Mo.), B.A. Psychology, 1969; Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland), certificate in Polish Language and Culture, 1983; University of Vermont (Burlington), M.A. Political Science, 1985; Vermont Law School (South Royalton), J.D. Law, 1988; the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), M.P.A. Public Administration; and most recently the International House (Krakow, Poland), certificate, Teaching English as a Second Language, 1999.
Althea moved to Vermont in 1972, to accompany her husband, Joseph, a professor at St. Michael’s College. Almost immediately she became active in politics at the local and state level. She served on the Essex Junction Planning Commission as Acting Chairman, from 1975-1977. The trustees of the Village of Essex Junction appointed her to the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Later, she served as Moderator of the Village of Essex Junction, from 1990-1994. She was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives for four terms, and was Democratic Assistant Leader (Whip) in the House for two terms.
Althea was elected to the Vermont Senate in 1990, and served two terms, one as Minority Party Assistant Leader. In 1995, she was elected Assistant Judge and served as Family Court Judge and Chittenden County Administrator.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and later the House Appropriations Committee, Althea was a strong supporter of open government, increasing state assistance to low income people and the elderly, and increasing mental health, special education and higher education funding. She proposed a bill to strengthen the Lobbyist Disclosure Law. She supported budget increases for Vermont Aid to Needy Families with Children. She introduced legislation to permit property tax relief for senior citizens. She supported the Independence Fund, an alternative to nursing home care.
Other major legislative efforts included co-sponsoring a bill to outlaw corporal punishment in school. She also researched and led the fight to pass a living will bill, which allows anyone over the age of 18 years to designate end-of-life measures. After leaving the house, she took a temporary leave from politics to attend law school and passed the Vermont Bar, with a goal of becoming a more effective legislator. Following law school, she served two terms in the Vermont Senate. Althea continued making issues her priority during her four years as a Vermont Senator. She sponsored successful legislation that increased funds for affordable housing, required insurance coverage for mammograms, prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public places, and allowed workers to take unpaid family leave. She was Chair of the Conference Committee that passed legislation that allowed Burlington to use its waterfront lands for arts education and cultural activities, water research and dining facilities. As a Senator, she received awards for State House Distinguished Service from the Vermont Dietetic Association and an appreciation award from the Vermont Sheriff’s Association. Althea also served the Vermont community in many other ways, in elective and appointive positions: on the Essex Board of Civil Authority, the Board of the Medical Center Renal Advisory Committee, the Board of the Chittenden County Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), the Board of Burlington’s Church Street Community Center, and a six year term on the Board of Trustees of the University of Vermont.
She also was the founder and first Executive Director of the Vermont Bar Foundation, which was established to oversee and distribute funds from lawyers’ interest-bearing escrow accounts. Later as a Senator, she proposed legislation to use funds in interest-bearing real-estate escrow accounts for affordable housing. A central priority in Althea’s political life was advancing the cause of women in society. She was a member of the Essex League of Women Voters and served as Voter Service Chair, helping women get elected. She researched and wrote her master’s thesis on women in politics.
She was producer and host of 80 one-half-hour TV interview programs, called Vermont Women, broadcast on Vermont’s Adelphia Cable channel 15, from 1990-1994. This program highlighted individual Vermont women and their contributions to society, and included three award winning programs, recognized by NEWC, New English Women in Cable, Boston, Mass. She organized and coordinated the successful effort to pass an amendment to the Vermont State Constitution to rewrite the Constitution in gender neutral language. She sponsored a joint resolution, passed by the Vermont House and Senate, recognizing breast cancer as national health emergency and declaring Mother’s Day a day of remembrance and recovery. While at Harvard, she co-taught a course entitled, “Women in Politics,” with professor Shirley Williams, founder of the Social Democratic Party of Great Britain.
In March of 1996, Althea was diagnosed with colon cancer, resigned from her position as Assistant Judge of Chittenden County and moved to Poland to begin a new life as an educator.
She always treasured her Polish roots and traditions and had made many trips to Poland studying Polish culture at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and living with relatives in southeastern Poland. After one year of rest and recovery, Althea volunteered teaching English as a second language to elementary and middle school students in Sehchow, Poland.
She fell in love with Poland and with teaching, went to Krakow to obtain a certificate teaching English as a Second Language, and spent a year at the International House. Althea taught at several language schools in Poland over a period of four years, including one year teaching future teachers of English at the Panstwowa Wyzsza Szkola Zawodowa (Teachers College) in Tarnow, the Brytania School of English in Debica, and the Y.E S. Language School and Promar International Language School in Rzeszow. In 2004, she established her own school, the Althea Institute, also in Debica, founded to teach English and leadership skills to business managers and civic leaders. After teaching the principal and vice principal of the local high school, Liceum II, she was asked to teach English at the high school level, and for several years taught advanced high school students in a program called the Future Leaders Program. Althea was passionate about teaching and worked in her newly chosen field until the day she was diagnosed with lung cancer. In addition to families and friends, she leaves behind her good friend and co-worker, Maria Proczek Dus and many beloved students in Poland.
Althea spent her life helping others and she will be dearly missed by all with whom she came into contact. She is survived by her husband, Joseph; son, Andrew and daughter-in-law, Carolina, and two granddaughters, Gabrielle and Rachel; three sisters, Vivian (and Paul) Kolpak and their children, Todd and Alexis; Alice (and Tony) Pawlicki and their children, Allison, Angela, and Stacie; and Vicki (and Bill) Pindras and their children, Andrea, David, Laura, Eric, and Emilie; two brothers, Andrew (and Amy) Przybylo and their children, Adam and Kiki; and Ted (and Alicia) Przybylo and their children, Michelle, Alex and Jack; two sisters-in-law, Mary Ann Kroger and her daughter, Gena; and Katie Wolfram and her daughter, Emily; brother-in-law, Bob (wife Kim) and their children, April, Kelly, Thomas and Becky; two cousins in Poland (where Althea lived most of the past 15 years), Lucyna (and Robek) Pociask and their children, Alicja and Mikolaj; and Anna Gaszynska.
The family would like to convey a special thanks to those who cared for Althea, including Dr. Diane Rippa of Alder Brook Family Health and Dr. Paul Unger of the Vermont Center for Cancer Medicine, the doctors and nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care and the wonderfully caring staff of the Vermont Visiting Nurses Association and the Vermont Respite House in Williston.
Visiting hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at Ready Funeral Home, Mountain View Chapel, 68 Pinecrest Dr., Essex Junction, on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, and a funeral Mass will be celebrated at the chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel, St. Michael’s College, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, with Superior General, Very Reverend Michael Cronogue officiating, followed by a reception in the Pomerleau Alumni Center.
A second visiting service and burial will take place in Chicago, Ill., where Althea was born and raised. To send online condolences, please visit www.readyfuneral.com. In lieu of flowers, gifts in Althea’s memory may be made to Vermont Respite House, 99 Allen Brook Lane, Williston, VT 05495.
Published in The Burlington Free Press on August 31, 2012