From Logging to Aerospace Industries, Janickis have Thrived in Skagit County

Skagit Valley Herald
By Levi Pulkkinen

August 1, 2004--In the 1930s, Stanley Janicki bought a homestead near Clear Lake and started cutting cedar shakes by hand. In the 1990s, Peter and John Janicki bought an old industrial site and started making precision boat molds using a laser-guided grinder.

Although separated by decades, the current generation of the Janickis share a "pioneering spirit" with their ancestor that earned the family recognition as 2004 Pioneer Family of the Year, said Dan Berentson, president of the Skagit County Pioneer Association. "We felt that they were not only pioneers of the past but pioneers of the future," Berentson said. In three generations, the Janicki family's holdings have grown from a shake mill and a homestead to include two major industries and numerous properties.

A Legacy to Build On

The Janicki family's roots in Skagit County date back to the early 1920s, when Polish immigrants Stanley and Hedwig Kurek Janicki left Chicago with two small children, Wanda and Frank. After arriving in Clear Lake, Stanley went to work at the Clear Lake Lumber Co. before buying a stump-strewn homestead for $80. There, they raised 10 children.

During the Depression, Stanley started selling paint door-to-door, Berentson said. He soon discovered that people needed roofs more than paint and began hand-cutting shingles on his stump ranch. Stanley brought his family to Sedro-Woolley in 1941, where he established Cedar Crest Shake Mill. It was the first in the line of successful Janicki-owned businesses, made possible by the same innovative work ethic that would later give rise to the family's noteworthy ventures, he said.

Annie Janicki, Stanley's daughter-in-law, said she believes Stanley's business manners are still evident in the Janicki family. "They are the type of business people that are very hard-working and creative, like many people are when they came to this country,"Annie said from her Sedro-Woolley home.

Not long after the family moved to Sedro-Woolley, two of Stanley's sons, Frank and Stanley Jr., left to fight in World War II. After the war, Stanley Jr. and his brother Walt attended Seattle University, where they met their future wives -- sisters Annie and Marion Michael. After graduating from Seattle University, Stanley Jr. married Annie and the pair returned to Sedro-Woolley. Back in his birthplace, Stanley Jr. started Janicki Logging Co., which he later ran with Walt.

Growing with Sedro-Woolley

As they still do today, young Janickis and their cousins populated Janicki Logging's payroll when Stanley Jr. ran it. Working for the company helped the children acquire an appreciation for the mountains, and for a hard day's work, Annie said. "I think if you ever worked in the woods, if you ever were a logger, you learned to make it work," she said. "And you learned hard work." The logging company Stanley Jr. started is now run by two of the couples' children, Mike and Rob, and is staffed by some of his 28 grandchildren.

The third-generation Janickis, however, haven't been content with the array of businesses created by their ancestors. In addition to acquiring and developing commercial and residential lands around Sedro-Woolley, two sons of Stanley Jr. launched in the late 1990s a business they hope will carry the family into the 21st century -- Janicki Industries. Headquartered not far from Janicki Logging's equipment yard, Janicki Industries is run by brothers Peter and John Janicki. Using a process developed by Peter, the company makes precision molds for the aerospace and marine industries at facilities scattered around Sedro-Woolley. Earlier this month, John said the company's payroll exceeded 350 employees.

Even with the growth, Annie said she and her children still run Janicki businesses by way of weekly family meetings. She said the children's cooperative spirit -- and good taste in spouses --has helped the family businesses succeed. "They've always been interested and helpful to each other, and thank God they're all married to very wonderful people. It makes it much more fun and enjoyable," she said. "I think it's very helpful, because they're all very capable so when they help each other and give each other ideas, it works."

Skagit County Pioneer Association historian Dick Fallis said the work done at Janicki Industries is a continuation of the pioneer spirit Stanley Janicki Sr. brought to Skagit County when he emigrated. "What the Janicki family is doing up there with modern technology ... is the spirit of the pioneer," Fallis said.