Archives West Finding Aid

Emil Skowronek (aka Clark) (1904-1993) was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States as a young boy. Skowronek graduated high school in Tacoma. As a young man, Skowronek worked as a logger on the Olympic Peninsula for five years to fund his education at Washington State University, where he was a member of the wrestling team. While he worked as a logger, he was radicalized by the Industrial Workers of the World. Skowronek was a member of the Communist Party USA and served as a left wing labor organizer who (according to family lore) helped found the Seattle Ship Scaler's union in 1936. Skowronek later became a ship rigger in the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers, and Helpers, Local 104 (Seattle, Washington) and served as a business agent in the union. During World War II, Skowronek served in the merchant marine, where he was involved in the Battle of Okinawa. He lost his seamen's clearance for his political affiliations during the "Red Scare" of the 1950s, but was able to regain it.

Skowronek married Edna Theodosia Bundry in 1935. Edna Theodosia Skowronek (1903-1976), graduated in 1932 with Bachelor's of Science in nursing from the University of Washington. She worked as a registered nurse.

Theodosia Skowronek "Theo" Nassar (1939-), Emil and Edna's daughter, recieved her BA in Sociology from Washington State University and her MS in Teaching/Communications from Gonzaga University, working as a caseworker at Eastern State Mental Hospital and a copywriter and journalist in Spokane before moving to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter for ten years.

Felix Skowronek (1935-2006), Emil and Edna's son, played principal flute for the Seattle Symphony from 1956–1957 and 1959–1960. Skowronek also played in the Seventh Army Symphony from 1957–1959, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra 1960–1966, and St. Louis Symphony 1966–1968, and was a member of the Casals Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico and was a founding member of the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet. He became a member of the faculty of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, followed by the University of Washington, where he taught for 38 years, and served as president of the National Flute Association and Seattle Flute Society. He was a leading figure in the revival of wooden Boehm-style flutes in the USA and an expert in the use of various hardwoods in flute manufacturing.