Leon Henry Lubowiecki Jr. was born on March 30, 1929 at 3:20 PM at home in New Hyde Park, New York to parents Kinga and Leon Lubowiecki. His parents and siblings called him “Sonny.” Lee was baptized on April 14, 1929 at St Hedwigs Church. His First Holy Communion was May 30, 1937 at Holy Ghost Church. He went to New Hyde Park Road School from Kindergarten to eighth grade. He later went to Sewanhaka High School.
Sometime in the 1940s, he worked for Liberty Aircraft at the Republic Airport in Farmingdale, but was drafted into the Army. He began at Fort Benning as a paratrooper—the above photo shows that paratrooper patch on his cap. He then was switched to gunnery school in Texas after he had issues with his feet. At gunnery school, he worked on gun maintenance and learned to be a machinist. His rank was Corporal.
Although his gravestone says he served in Korea, he was never deployed to Korea.
After he left the Army, he worked as a machinist on Long Island. He later worked for Clover Dairy in Garden City Park and Glen Head, New York along with his brother-in-law Ed Sawicki. Those years were spent on home delivery, waking up at 3:00 in the morning to deliver milk before most people woke up. He had his nephew Ed, and later Jim, help him.
After Clover Dairy shutdown, he worked for Crestwood Creamery and Elmhurst Dairy, delivering mils to retail stores, schools, restaurants, and institutions.
He dated Jean Rodnite for about 50 years. Jean lived in New Hyde Park. Family lore has it that Lee wanted to get married but Jean didn't because she wanted to take care of her sickly mother.
He spent 50 plus years in the New Hyde Park Fire Department, where he was a past Chief. His dedication to firefighting included a radio scanner turned on at home most times to listen for fire department calls.
He and others were honored for their service in a July 2022 ceremony.
After his father died, he purchased the family home from his mother Kinga, but she still lived in the house. When Kinga died, Lee and his sister Virginia lived in the house until old age forced them into adult care facilities. At this stage, his niece Diana was handling his finances and she arranged for the sale of his house.
He died on April 17, 2019 at 5:00 AM of end stage congestive heart failure due to atherosclerotic heart disease. Lee is buried in Calverton National Cemetery in New York.