Woman who sheltered Jews in WWII dies
South Sound resident Alexandra Gylys stood up to Nazis in Lithuania
By Barry Ginter
The Olympian
February 06, 2006

Thurston County resident Alexandra Gylys, who put her life in danger to
shelter Jews in Lithuania during World War II, died Monday at the age of
99.

Gylys, whose legacy of helping others extended long beyond World War II
through her years in Olympia, was recognized along with her husband by
Israel in 1976 with the highest honor it gives to non-Jews.

The medal and certificate signify they are Righteous of the Nations. A
cedar tree was planted in their honor in Jerusalem, with a proclamation
recognizing their humanitarian effort without regard to their own lives
to save the Jews during the Holocaust.

?She helped everybody everywhere,? said her grandson, John Gylys, who
lives in Thurston County. ?If a person didn?t have a coat and was cold,
she?d get them a coat.?

Born in Illinois to Lithuanian-born parents, Gylys? family moved to
their native country when she was 3 years old. At 18, she married Leon
Gylys, and they operated a grocery store and meat market in a town of
about 14,000. She was a Catholic and had many Jewish friends.

During the Nazi occupation, when 90 percent of the country?s Jews were
killed by the Nazis, she and her husband hid three Jewish families.

?It was a dangerous time,? said Aldona Minelga, Gylys? daughter.
?What my parents did was extremely risky.?

Minelga, 77, said she, too, remembers the war and fearing they would be
the next victims of the Nazis.

?We were shaking in our boots thinking what would happen,? she said.
The Gylys family settled in Chicago in 1948, and then Seattle in 1960.

They purchased Lee?s Restaurant and moved to Olympia in 1962, shortly
before Leon died.

Members of the families that she helped escape to Israel frequently
visited her in Olympia, but Gylys didn?t seek credit. ?Grandma was a
very humble person,? John Gylys said. ?I don?t think she looked to get
praise for what she did.?

In Olympia, she became known to her many friends as Mama Gylys, and
talked about the latest news in a thick Lithuanian accent from her
favorite booth in the restaurant?s coffee shop.

She was constantly involved in charitable work, sending packages of
clothing to Lithuania and money to the needy in Poland, as well as
contributing to South Sound charitable organizations.

She?d offer meals to people in need in exchange for pulling weeds,
picking up trash or other chores, John Gylys said.

Her charity extended to animals, Minelga said, and she often fed stray
cats and dogs.

She also had a soft spot for gulls, feeding them each day in the parking
lot of the restaurant until neighbors began to complain about the
droppings. It took some gentle persuasion on the part of the police
before she decided to let the birds fend for themselves.

?She always responded to pain in people and animals,? Minelga said.
?That?s her in one sentence.?

She will be buried in Chicago next to her husband.

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