Milada “Milly” Helena Polach Urbanski died peacefully on the morning of November 21st at her home in Shadow Hills, California.  She was 88 years young.  She was an only child born August 31st, 1924 to Ferdinand Polach and Helena Skubik Polach in Astoria, Long Island, NY. 

After graduating from Columbia University with her M.A, in Psychology, she worked at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC and then for General Electric in Schenectady, NY.

Milly married her soulmate, Casimir Xavier John Urbanski, Jr., in North Canaan, Connecticut on August 8th, 1953 and after a short time in Schenectady, New York they moved to Fern Park, Florida and purchased the Oak Ridge Motel which they ran together until 1971.  Concurrently she worked for various doctor’s offices and in the construction/real estate fields.  All of these occupations were a great joy for Milly who was a self-professed “people watcher” and genuinely loved everyone she ever met. 

They had one daughter, Denise Alexandra Urbanski Fleck, and Milly spent much of those early years as Room Mother, Brownie & Junior Girl Scout Leader, President of the PTAs at English Estates Elementary (Fern Park, FL), Teague Middle & Lake Brantley High Schools (Forest City, FL) as well as serving on the County Council.  She was also Band Booster President at LBHS but made time to work full-time at Highland Memory Gardens in Apopka, Florida from 1972–2000 when she moved to California to join her daughter and son-in-law.  There she continued to make friends wherever she went, lighting up a room with her smile and a joke. 

Milly’s love for people only came second to her love of her family including the many dogs that shared her life.  She had a passion for Polish, Czech & German delicacies, red roses, butterflies and palacinky (Czech crepes filled with raspberry jam).  She enjoyed all kinds of music but especially Bobby Vinton, Roger Whittaker, Pavarotti and Lawrence Welk.  Getting together with friends to make greeting cards and being a member of Sokol Los Angeles, a Czechoslovak organization, also brought her great joy.  Her philosophy in life was to cope and look at whatever comes your way with a smile.

Milly is pre-deceased by her husband "Cas" who passed away in 1994, but is survived by her daughter, Denise & son-in-law, Paul Fleck (Shadow Hills, CA); step-son Casimir X. Urbanski III, Pattersonville, NY; step-daughter, Barbara Osterhout, Glenville, NY; 11 step grandchildren and 2 cousins Ottilie Kovacek, Sag Harbor, NY; Adele Pokrzywnicki, Clearwater, FL and more friends than there are days in a year!

She will be cremated privately and her ashes will be interred, along with her beloved husband’s, at Highland Memory Gardens in Apopka, Florida around her favorite holiday…Valentine’s Day 2013.

In lieu of flowers, Milly would want everyone to share a hug with someone they love, and if you are so inclined…plant a rose bush to remember her by or think of her when you see a butterfly.