Pennie Zawacki, featured in three-year series on wildfire recovery, dies at 76
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Pennie Zawacki, the matriarch of a Poway family that took in more than
400 foster children over 42 years, died at her home Nov. 26.
North County Times readers were introduced to Zawacki and her family
three years ago after the 2003 October wildfires destroyed both of
their family homes. The Zawackis graciously allowed the newspaper to
follow their recovery over three years, from sorting through ashes a
month after the fire to having a large reunion at their new homes last
summer.
At the time, Pennie Zawacki knew it would be the last time she would
see many of her friends.
"She lasted a lot longer than they gave her," her son, Zane, said about
his mother, who had lung cancer and died at age 76. "In June, they only
gave her a week."
Pennie Zawacki and her husband, Rudy, moved to Poway in 1964. Their
Garden Road property had one house on it, and they built another in
1968 and then a 10-room home in 1979.
The latter, a big pink and brown house on the hill, became well-known
in Poway. For many foster children, the Zawacki home was a last resort
for youths who already had problems at other foster homes.
"I wanted all the kids nobody else wanted," Pennie Zawacki said in a
2003 interview.
Children at the home learned discipline through Rudy and got a taste of
country life at the rural home, where the family kept farm animals.
Last summer, many of the now-adult foster children returned to Poway
and remembered their days in the Zawacki house as a time that shaped
their lives and helped give them new direction.
Rudy Zawacki died in 1980, and Pennie Zawacki kept the foster home
going until losing her license in 1990. One of her three homes burned
down that year, and Pennie and Zane Zawacki began operating a boarding
house and the Royal Serchek Samoyed Kennels on their property.
"I've had so many bumps in the road," Pennie Zawacki said after the
2003 fire. "It's just another big bump. You go on. You have to. It's
how I always taught my kids. Like my dad used to tell me all the time,
'Life is a bed of roses. Just remember, all roses have thorns.'"
Besides Zane, Pennie Zawacki is survived by her daughters, Donna Moore
of Greensboro, N.C., Tammie Peters of Lawtey, Fla., Lynnette Hamilton
of Ramona, and Zanette Horton of Escondido; nine grandchildren; and
seven great-grandchildren.
Asked how he thinks his mother will be remembered, Zane said, "Probably
(as) a mom. She was a mom to a lot of kids."
A memorial service was scheduled to be held Dec. 2 at Poway-Bernardo
Mortuary. The family suggests donations to Horizon Hospice in her
memory.