Smithton engineer was visionary family man

Cazmier Liszewski’s mind was always at work.

“He was constantly doing, constantly thinking, constantly creating,” said his daughter, Patty Liszewski.

As an engineer for Aerojet and Westinghouse, he worked on designs for rockets and nuclear power. At home, he rebuilt cars in his garage and tended the hobby farm that was his passion.

“He was always active and involved in numerous projects and plans, he was a great visionary,” said his son, Jim Liszewski.

Throughout it all he was a loving husband and father.

“He had seven kids, and he is just our hero,” Patty Liszewski said.

Cazmier Leonard “Caz” Liszewski, 90, of Smithton, died Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020.

He was born in Buffalo, New York.

It was at a YMCA dance in Buffalo that he met the woman who would become Terry Liszewski, his wife of 64 years.

Mr. Liszewski was working two jobs and attending the University of Buffalo, so the young couple’s date nights often involved hanging out at the gas station where he worked, Patty Liszewski said.

The two never lost their love of dance, and spent their lives ballroom dancing.

After Mr. Liszewski graduated, the couple moved to California, where he built a cabin by hand in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Work eventually brought them to Smithton, where they made a home Mr. Liszewski called his “paradise,” his daughter said.

Some of his favorite moments were spent working on cars with his sons.

“I spent countless hours in the garage with dad,” James Liszewski said. “Those were all things that he learned from his father, too, so it was a really special thing.”

Mr. Liszewski volunteered with the Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter. He led the effort to renovate an abandon train car and relocate it to the Yough River trailhead in West Newton, where it still stands.

When he was 65, he and his wife walked 300 miles down the trail from Smithton to Washington D.C., a trip that took about a month.

Mr. Liszewski was preceded in death by his infant son, David, and daughter, Nanci.

He is survived by his wife Terry Liszewski; sons Paul and Jim Liszewski; daughters Kathy Zimmerman, Anna DeRosa, Jenny Lipe and Patty Liszewski; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Seven Dolors Church, Yukon. Burial will follow in St. Timothy Catholic Cemetery, Smithton.

Memorial donations may be made to Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter, 111 Collinsburg Road, West Newton, PA 15089.