Joseph and Mary Ozog, 2002 Fidelitas Medal recipients, and their family of 13 children, 35 grandchildren and 56 great-grandchildren: a legacy of devotion to God, family and community. (Photo, circa late 1950s)

2002 Fidelitas Medal to the Joseph and Mary Ozog Family

When he was 16 years old, Joseph Ozog left behind the family farm in southern Poland, which he was in line to inherit as the oldest of seven siblings, and came to America.
For several years, he did odd jobs in New York and other areas up and down the East Coast, in between traveling back and forth to Poland. On one of those journeys back home, on July 13, 1921, Joseph married Mary Szczypek, after a courtship of only three weeks.
He continued his travels between visiting his spouse in Poland and working in the United States, finally settling in an upper flat on Detroit¹s west side. On Christmas Eve 1929, Joseph welcomed his 25-year-old wife and two sonsFrank, 7, and Stanley, 2to America.
Joseph died in April 1970 at the age of 74, and Mary, in March 1984, 18 days shy of her 80th birthday. Their marriage had produced 13 children 8 sons, 5 daughters.
Dorothy Ozog Carson, of Dearborn, the youngest sibling, remembers her parents as hard-working "who sacrificed for the family," who were family- and faith-orientated.
Joseph and Mary Ozog¹s example inspired their children to careers of service to church, community and Polonia. One son became a priest and one daughter, a nun. All completed high school, and nine graduated from college. Two became physicians, one an attorney, four were teachers on the secondary and college levels. Many were members of Polish American organizations.
Following in their parents' footsteps, family was the heart of their lives. The 10 children who married brought forth 35 grandchildren and 56 great-grandchildren for Joseph and Mary Ozog.
The family emulated their parents' example and made the Orchard Lake Schools a prime beneficiary of their community involvement, serving on boards and various fund-raising committees.
In making the announcement following approval by the Board of Regents at its fall meeting that the 2002 Orchard Lake Schools Fidelitas Medal would be awarded to the Joseph and Mary Ozog Family, Chancellor Fr. Timothy Whalen said: "The award, the 55th since its establishment in 1949, is made to the family in recognition of their fidelity in serving God, country and the Orchard Lake Schools through the realization of the religious and cultural ideals of our forefathers."
The presentation will be made Saturday, May 4, during commencement exercises for SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary and St. Mary¹s College of Ave Maria University, beginning at noon in the Rev. John Rakoczy Auditorium.
The Ozog family moved from Detroit to accommodate a growing family to a farm in New Boston in the western suburbs, only, in a few years, to move back to the west side to a larger home on St. Lawrence Street and the neighborhood of St. Cunegunda Parish, where both Joseph and Mary were active in several parish organizations.
Joseph Ozog retired in 1963 after 30 years at the Ford Rouge plant.
"I don't remember my father ever taking a vacation," says Dorothy, "except one time when, on a spur of the moment, he and my brothers, Wally and John, went to see relatives out East. My mother, it seems to me, must have spent all her time washing clothes and cooking. I remember her making all those sandwiches for everyone¹s lunches for work or for school. They were extremely hard workers."
Yet, there was always time to pray together. "As a family," says Dorothy, "we would kneel down in the dining room and recite the rosary. Once in a while, my mother would test us on our religion. She didn't trust that the schools were teaching the commandments and precepts of the church. All of this was in Polish."
As the children became older and left home, Mary became more involved outside the parish, joining the Orchard Lake Schools Ladies Auxiliary and serving on the Ladies Day General Committee for nine years. She was named the Ladies Auxiliary¹s "Woman of the Year" in 1982.

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Read more about the family of Joseph and Mary Ozog and their children in the order of their births.