Hanna Helena Wojciechowski

Hanna Helena Wojciechowski de domo Schmidt-Madalinska (1932 to 2014)

In Loving Memory: A filmmaker, educator and a successful businesswoman Hanna passed away on February 13, 2014 in Monrovia, California. She was 81 years old. Born shortly before World War II in Warsaw, Poland, Hanna lived through the German occupation. Her parents were Helena Sobolewska: an educator and recipient of the first Masters Degree awarded to a woman in biogenetic studies in Poland, and Roman Schmidt-Madalinski: a businessman, entrepreneur and recipient of Polish highest civilian medal for his services to Poland. The adversity of growing up through war years steeled Hanna's spirit and shaped her resolve to build a better life by sharing her creative gifts. She completed her undergraduate degree studies in Chemistry at the University in Lodz in Poland, and her Master in Sound Engineering at the National Musical Conservatory in Warsaw, Poland. Between 1958 and 1961 she worked as sound engineer in the Polish National News Service.

In 1961 she married Jozef Wojciechowski, a retired officer in the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy service at sea north of the Arctic Circle who was awarded medals for supporting convoys to Murmansk in Russia during WWII. Together they immigrated to the United States and settled in Southbridge, Massachusetts, where she continued her film and photography work and ran an independent movie theatre. They co-authored the first independent documentary about the legendary Woodstock festival. In 1968, shortly after they brought it to Los Angeles for distribution, Jozef passed away.

Left a widow alone in a new town, Hanna built her business and continued her family tradition of serving her community through education. She was a highly regarded film instructor in mid-70's at California State University, Long Beach. Since 1977 she was also an instructor, then between 1980 and 1984 the Associate Chairman of the Film Department at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She mentored many students at the Art Center. In 1981 she was responsible for awarding the first academic scholarship for a woman in the Art Center film department. In 1980 she invited from Poland her niece and helped her get a degree at the Art Center and launch her career in the US.

In addition to her academic work, Hanna worked freelance as a sound engineer for multiple sound studios and independent producers. She was active in the Women in Film industry association and in the Polish cultural circles, and in the Westlake Village artist community. An avid animal lover, traveler and adventurer, visual artist and poet Hanna had inexhaustible energy, curiosity, stamina and zest for life. Always independent, she was a strong assertive woman far ahead of her time. Never having children of her own, she loved her dogs and her grand nieces and was supportive of her family in America and Poland.

Hanna is survived in America by her niece Zofia Kostyrko-Edwards and husband Charles with daughters Veronika and Lara in Altadena, CA, and in Poland by her sister Krystyna Kostyrko and her husband, and her niece Weronika with her family.

A memorial mass will be held this summer on May 31, 2014 at the Saint Robert Bellarmine Church at 133 N. 5th Street, Burbank, CA. Condolences for Hanna maybe sent on-line, at www.douglassandzook.com. A reminder announcement of the Memorial Mass services closer to the actual date will follow.