Iris
M. Drzewiecki of Elma, a retired school librarian who was a leader in
the drive to restore the oldest stone house in Erie County, died Monday
in the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, Cheektowaga, after a
brief illness. She was 75.
Mrs. Drzewiecki's fascination with the Warren and Polly Hull House on
Genesee Street in Lancaster, built in 1810, inspired her to write a historic
fiction book for middle graders, "The
Ghost And Me, Joey." Published in 2002, it is set in Hull House.
She was secretary of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, which
acquired Hull House in the 1990s and is restoring it as a museum.
Mrs. Drzewiecki was a founding member of the Hull House Restoration Committee
and, with her husband, received a meritorious service award from the Landmark
Society in 2003.
Born Iris M. Herrlich in Buffalo, she was a graduate of Kensington High
School and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in elementary
education from Buffalo State Teachers College. She earned a master's degree
in library science from the University of Buffalo.
She taught elementary grades and served as a librarian in the Buffalo
and Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda schools before becoming librarian at Court
Street Elementary School in Lancaster. She retired in 1992.
A member of the American Library Association, she was named to serve on
the association's 1992 Newbery Medal Committee, which chose that year's
most distinguished children's book.
A freelance writer, her work appeared in Instructor, Library Journal,
Library Talk, Cobblestone, The Buffalo News, Roycroft Review and on WIVB-TV.
Mrs. Drzewiecki was listed in "Who's Who in American Education"
and was a member of the Roycroft Writers.
She was married for 23 years to Joseph C. Pileri, who died in 1974. She
was married in 1982 to Daniel R. Drzewiecki, who survives.
She also is survived by three sons, Daniel Pileri of Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
Douglas C. Pileri of Carmel, Ind., and Michael of Cheektowaga; a daughter,
Susan Makowski of Depew; her mother, Monica Herrlich of Lancaster; a sister,
Joan Shanahan of the Town of Tonawanda; and eight grandchildren.