Kay M. Hetrick

Kay M. Hetrick, of Absecon. “Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.”, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our mother was a strong and talented woman who loved the ocean and was always ahead of her time. The women of today stand on the shoulders of women like her, who quietly insisted on and eventually received some equality in the business world. She was that most elusive of combinations, a successful artist.

Born Casimira “Kazia” Janis to Polish immigrants and proud naturalized citizens, Marya “May” Wojeck and Wladylaw “Walter Janis” Janiszewski, between sisters, Dolores and Marie. Ethnic names were not cool then so as a young adult she unofficially Americanized her name, something you could never do today. But to her family, she was always Kazia. She married once to Richard “Dick” Hetrick and turned away suitors throughout her life. She was born on St. Patrick’s Day but don’t ever send her a blended card, she was Polish! She grew up in Port Richmond and attended the Philadelphia art school but her talent was natural and could not be taught.

In 1949, as a young single mother, she arrived for the season in that golden city by the sea, Atlantic City. She lived in an apartment on the boardwalk at Maine, painted mermaids and fishes on the walls and in the tub, and turned the fish tank into a table with fish in it. Oh, Atlantic City was fun then and there were other artists and kindred spirits for her on the boardwalk. Great food and shopping on Atlantic Ave., she loved living there.

She was an amazing entrepreneur. As a friend said, she could make a successful business out of a carton of eggs. She became a partner at Kent Tie Studio and then opened her own store, Brush N’ Palette at Tennessee and the boardwalk, under the Mayflower Hotel. It catered to the large convention business and the hook was hand painting names on ties, Shriners, Tall Cedars, whoever was in town that week, beautiful, fancy, cursive writing in oil paint. She did mirror painting too. There were no instant screen printers or embroidery machines then and this unique talent made her business a success. She very much enjoyed her buying trips to New York and taking her business to conventions throughout the country and her winters in Florida driving around in a convertible. Soon she was sitting in the store window painting names on whatever she could, handbags, hats, little dolls and sweatshirts while people on the boardwalk watched.

She was a pioneer in the fledgling mail order business, creating Hi Fly Flags in a catalog, hand painting the name of your boat on a flag. She opened a second store on the boardwalk in Wildwood. She bought a duplex in Wildwood Crest so she could rent out the downstairs in the summer. She learned to drive and bought her first car “Daisy” when most women were still passengers. She was one of the first people to purchase the innovative Ford Edsel, a car also ahead of its time.

She was flooded out by many hurricanes and there was no insurance then so she did what they all did, picked her self up and started over again. But after the March storm of ’62 we moved to Absecon where she bought and enjoyed her house next to the woods and she painted deer on the walls. Even she could not hold off the decline of the beautiful city by the sea and Brush N’ Palette closed in the mid ‘70s.

So she bought a tavern at Delilah and Fire Rds. in EHT, The Ponderosa. The mainland was where things were happening then. Wow, between the deer running through the building, forest fires and motorcycle guys, that corner was wild and crazy!

She opened a more sedate craft store in Absecon, Which Craft in Sandpiper Square, where she gave classes and sold supplies long before AC Moore came to town. You cannot compete with national chain stores so she closed Which Craft and gave classes at AC Moore. She was adaptable.

She retired many times but it never took. She created Art Adventure and gave art classes which her customers loved because she was a wonderful, generous teacher, always making sure her students were successful. She filled their heads with classical music. She was quite the actress and enjoyed being the star so teaching was a good fit. We were always looking for the perfect studio for her classes, right to the end.

She was happy to use her talents for volunteer activities with the Ventnor Art Society, Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the Humane Societies of Atlantic City and Ocean City, Shore Memorial Hospital, the Atlantic Riding Center for the Handicapped, the EHT Arboretum and Nature Center. Animal charities all over the world will miss her generosity.

She loved her animals; Happy, the canary, budgies Verde and Azul, that horrible monkey, Bamboo! Her multi talented parrot, Christmas.

She adored her dogs; Cindy, George, Ringo, her favorite, Benjamin, her very favorite who went with us on our excellent adventure driving across the country in 1970, sweet Blossom, her most favorite and Yorkie, the one eyed terrier and terror.

After Yorkie, she switched to cats, Muffie and Callie. She will be deeply missed by ancient feline Shadow, who will have a good home with us but no one can spoil her like Mother did.

Our mother was a businesswoman and the business always came first but still the kids are all right. Winters at a strict Catholic boarding school where we got a great education that has served us well, summers of benign neglect and total freedom on the beach and boardwalk where we now marvel that we even survived, our heads filled constantly with classical music, she turned out two independent, successful, creative, adaptive business women and that made her very happy. We learned by working at the store from the earliest ages. We enjoyed our holidays and day trips for many years in adulthood. She was the artistic and creative force behind our winning Bal Masque entries and Christmas decoration contests. Although a physically tiny and gorgeous woman, she played Santa Claus many times for many groups. She started her own kazoo band and everyone played. She was always there if we needed help in home, business or volunteer work, not so much with the kids though.

Daughter Suzan and her husband Svend Martin Widecrantz are parents to Scott and his wife Laura Anne, who are mom and dad to Sawyer and Peyton “Pey”.

Daughter Janis is mother to C. Zachariah “Zack”, who with his wife Kimberly are parents to Christian and Skyler “Summer Sky”.

It was Kazia’s hope that those wishing to honor her full and happy life help the living by making a donation to the Humane Society Atlantic County, 1401 Absecon Blvd., Atlantic City, NJ 08401. www.hsacpet.com

Paul Goodman said “All men are creative but few are artists”. Our mother was an artist.

For online condolences, please visit www.parselsfuneralhome.com.