William A. Smiech

William A Smiech of Holiday, FL formerly of Punta Gorda, FL passed away peacefully on Oct 26, 2020, at Solaris Healthcare of Port Charlotte. Bill passed just 3 weeks before reaching his 94th birthday. He was born Nov 20, 1926, in New York, NY to John and Victoria (Tomaszewski) Smiech.

Bill was a WWII veteran having served in the Navy aboard the USS Suffolk in the Pacific Theater. He was employed by the US Government as a US Customs Inspector and worked his way up through the ranks and retired in 1984 as a supervisor.

His ardent love was for Polka music and dancing the Polka. He was a member of the Polish American Club of Holiday, FL. He will be affectionately remembered as the “Polka King”.

He is survived by his wife, Valerie of Punta Gorda, and sister Adele Galiczewski of NY. His surviving children are Diane Martin, William Gerad, Susan Molyneaux (George), Patricia Sloughfy (Charles), Andrew (Kathleen), and Thomas. In addition, 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Bill’s life will be held privately by the family. Interment of ashes will be at the Sarasota National Cemetery at a later date.