Christel Dygos with Chris Mann in 1996, when she was the cafeteria manager at Marshall Hill School. (Photos courtesy of Ann Genader)
Christel Dygos celebrates the opening of Robert ‘Bob’ Dygos Memorial Field in 1995. Their son Richard is at right and their son Ron is behind his mother.
Christel Dygos, remembered for 40 years of volunteerism as a member of the West Milford First Aid Squad, recently celebrated her 90th birthday at the Pinecliff Lake Community Club.
Born in Tilsit, East Prussia, a province of Germany, on June 16, 1934, to Margarete and Franz Wiemer, she was obligated, as all German children were, to join the Hitler Youth organization.
Growing up in Tilsit amid farmland near the Baltic Sea was a very enjoyable time in Christel’s life. When World War II started, everything changed.
Her mother, Margarete, was a smart woman who was tuned in to what was happening throughout Europe. After several years of war, she rightfully believed that Germany was losing and she was fearful of the approaching Russian Army.
She fled from her home, heading west with Christel and her other daughter, Ann Marie. They arrived in Saxony, Germany, in 1944.
Christel’s father, an officer in the German Home Army, stayed behind in Tilsit. With constant Allied bombing in the region, Margarete and her daughters often took refuge in a cellar.
When U.S. forces arrived in Saxony after the war, the territory was turned over to the Russians.
Terrified of the Russian Army, again they packed their belongings and left in search of the Americans. They slept in barns and on coal trains.
Margarete read palms and resold stolen eggs to get money for food. They eventually made it to Bavaria, where U.S. troops were.
Christel’s father, a released prisoner of war, and Uncle Horst, Margarete’s younger brother, rejoined the family. Horst worked as an interpreter and Margarete became a U.S. Army cook.
Word slowly reached them that the family members who stayed behind in Tilsit perished in the Russian invasion and others died from disease and starvation.
Several of Christel’s older family members, who had migrated to America before World War II, sponsored Christel and her family to come to America. The family settled in the Bronx in 1949 and Christel attended high school.
Her father was unable to adopt to a new life in America and soon returned to Germany. Christel, Ann Marie and their mother became American citizens in 1954, a milestone of which Christel is extremely proud.
After high school, she worked with her future mother-in-law as a secretary at Uniroyal Co. in New York City. While there, she met and married Bob Dygos, an engineer in the communications industry.
In 1967, the couple moved from Middle Village, Long Island, to West Milford, where Christel was a homemaker and together with Bob raised their four children.
The family has been active in the community. Bob was elected to the Board of Education and coached young people in sports. He passed away on their 39th wedding anniversary in 1994.
Christel became a member of the volunteer First Aid Squad in April 1981. Before that, she served for many years as a member of the squad’s Ladies Auxiliary.
As a squad member, she held various committee and officer positions. During her tenure as an emergency medical technician (EMT), she volunteered for day and night shifts and answered many calls as a member of the backup crew.
Over the years, she participated in many squad fundraisers and helped at special details, such as high school football games, the Autumn Lights Festival, the Greenwood Lake Air Show and emergency standby.
Besides providing emergency care, Christel is remembered by patients and families whom she comforted during the stressful time of medical evaluation and emergency transport to a hospital. She held hands, listened to stories and offered a joke (sometimes off-color) to take the patient’s mind off the emergency.
After 39 years of service, Christel transitioned back to the auxiliary, where she continues to serve as a member of the Equipment Committee, with responsibility to loan medical assist devices, including wheelchairs, canes and crutches to people who need them. She continues to attend fundraising and community events promoting the squad.
As a cafeteria worker in West Milford schools, she was known as a friend to students and someone to depend on if they needed help during lunchtime. Some people remember that when she was at Marshall Hill School during the Olympics, she planned educational displays for students to enjoy and learn from.
Christel is a longtime member of the West Milford Senior Olympics team that last year took first place in the Tri-County Olympics, beating the Sparta and Randolph teams.
In recent years, she became a member of Germania Park, a German-American cultural club in Dover. She is an active member, volunteering at the club’s fundraising events or attending its many social functions.
If she is not at the West Milford Elks Club on Friday night, she is probably at Germania Park.
Christel is active at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church and helps at fundraisers and special events. After attending 9 a.m. Mass daily, she can be found at McDonald’s with the Breakfast Club on most days.
She treasures her large network of friends and is appreciative of each one. They know that if they need a compassionate listener, a hug during trying times or a ride to an appointment, she is there to help them.
Christel Dygos is a West Milford treasure!