Libera Smiechowski

Libera (Romanelli ) Smiechowski was born on September 1, 1926, in Lehavre, France to parents Guilia Lorruzo and Francuis Romanelli. Libera Romanelli married Thaddeus Smiechowski on November 20, 1948, in Le Havre, France. Thaddeus was a United States Citizen who was born in 1923 in Wisconsin. In France, she lived through the Normandy Invasion and endured bombs raining on her house and bodies falling from the sky in the seaport city of Le Havre, France. When the war ended, she married and immigrated to the United States. In the US, she applied for naturalization and became a citizen in 1953. Once in the states, she began her schooling and earned her diploma from the Clairemont adult school in 1967. The following year she attended Mesa College and graduated with highest honors. After earning her Associates Degree, she then attended UCSD and also graduated with highest honors. She then enrolled at SDSU and earned a master's degree with highest honors. In 1975 she began to teach at Mesa College as a French Instructor while also attending UCLA under a doctorate program. She had co-produced professional education material that was recorded at San Diego City College. On December 08, 1978, months shy of attaining her PhD she passed away from a brain tumor.