BARANOWSKI, Anthony "Tony" P. 1952-2013

BARANOWSKI, BARAN, FISCHER, MUELLER, HOWELL, SCHMIDT, BARTH, ZERN, LOETSCHER, FIELDS

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 2/5/2013 at 19:57:29

Anthony (Tony) P. Baranowski of La Porte City, Iowa, passed away suddenly, Wednesday, January 9, 2013.

He spent his final weeks celebrating the holidays and his recent retirement from the city of Waterloo with his family. He spent his final days ice fishing. He was 60. The family will greet friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, at Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup Funeral Service on West Ridgeway in Waterloo.

Tony Baranowski was born November 30, 1952, in Chicago, the son of Anthony P. Baranowski and Lorene Fischer Baran. He spent his youth skipping school in favor of going to museums. Those are his words.

He moved to Cedar Rapids in his early teens to live with his father and stepmother, Mary (Jock) E. Shrock Baranowski. He flourished as an athlete and met the love of his life, Stacia Pat Mueller, at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School. He was a multi-time Drake Relays qualifier and a City of Cedar Rapids sprint champ. He earned football scholarship offers to Iowa State, Nebraska and Notre Dame, but wasn't smart enough to take them. Those are his words.

After a brief stint in the Navy, Tony returned to Cedar Rapids to marry his high school sweetheart on Aug. 11, 1973. They would have celebrated their 40th anniversary this year. The pair had ridiculous amounts of fun. Those are their words.

It was in family that Tony found purpose in life. First, welcomed into the Mueller family by his parents-in-law, Fred and Jean, then with Stacy upon the birth of their son, Anthony (Tony) P. Baranowski III on Sept. 18, 1979, and their daughter, Dana Jean Baranowski, on January 6, 1982.

Tony and Stacy lived in Oelwein and Waterloo before eventually settling in Washburn where they raised their family. Tony loved coaching his children and many others in every sport imaginable. In the fall, he filled their little pool with fish caught from Hickory Hills so the neighborhood kids could fish in it for Tony III’s birthday parties. In the winter, he flooded the back yard so they could ice skate. In the summer, the Baranowski backyard was constantly crowded for kickball and flashlight tag games. He was, above all, the best dad he could be. Those are our words.

Tony spent every minute he could spare outdoors. He loved fishing and hunting or just sitting in the front yard at the family’s cabin on the Upper Iowa River. There, along with his father, son, brothers-in-law, Drake Mueller, Brian Barth and Dan Fields, and his son-in-law Kris Howell, among many other friends and family, he had insane amounts of fun. Insane. That’s his word.

Tony, sometimes reluctantly, loved to travel. Annual trips to Table Rock Lake with his family for fishing and boating were always a highlight. Life-threatening fishing trips with Brian provided fodder for stories that will live on. And, later in life, he tried to do himself in body surfing in Mexico, sacrificing many pairs of sunglasses. He was never afraid to be reckless.

“You can’t get in trouble if you don’t get caught,” he said.

He had many nicknames, but his favorite came in his final years when he was able to welcome a new generation of Baranowskis to the world, which may well have been his greatest aspiration. Tony picked up as a grandfather where he left off as a dad; he was the best. Gramps will be forever missed by Sam and Lucy and the little Howells that have been promised to him.

Survivors include his wife, Stacy of La Porte City; his son, Tony P. (Sara) Baranowski III of Iowa Falls; his daughter, Dana B. (Kris) Howell of Cedar Rapids; two grandchildren, Sam and Lucy Baranowski; his mother, Lorene Baran of Dixon, Illinois, and his mother-in-law, Jean Mueller of Cedar Rapids; two sisters, Dian (Larry) Schmidt of Davis, Ill., and Barbara (Brian) Barth of Casa Grande, Ariz.; brother-in-law Drake (Cathy) Mueller of Des Moines; sister-in-law Candy (Mike) Zern of Arvada, Colo.; sister-in-law Debra Loetscher of Mobile, Ala.; and brother-in-law Dan Fields of Hiawatha. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father and stepmother, Anthony and Mary Baranowski; father-in-law, Frederick Mueller; nephew, Bobby Schuma, and his best friend, Bill Claus.

Memorials may be directed to the family.

[Waterloo Courier, Sunday, January 13, 2012]

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