YOUR SILENT NEIGHBORS, Marion Stupcenski, Collins Company Employee, Traffic Victim
by David K. Leff
Town Poet Laureate and Deputy Town Historian
  
A Collins Company employee and father of eight children, Marion Stupcenski (1886- 1936) had his life snuffed out at age 49 by two hit-and-run drivers. 

On a Saturday night around 9 p.m. in early March, Stupcenski was found at roadside by Percy Waddy, a fellow Collins Company worker.  Waddy went to the nearby Svenson home and called Dr. Carl Kilburn.  As Waddy and Mrs. Svenson returned to the victim, a car passed them and then drove over Stupcenski, fracturing both legs.  Neither Waddy nor Svenson were able to read the registration of the car. Dr. Kilburn sent Stupcenski by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he died. 

The incidents were investigated by state policeman William Landon, but there was no broken glass or anything else to indicate the identity of either car.  The road was icy, but there was a street light within 25 feet of where Stupcenski was walking. 

A few days after he was killed, The Farmington Valley Herald reported that there were “many comments” about the drivers who hit Stupcenski, “bordering on strong indignation.” 

Stupcenski’s funeral was held on the Wednesday after his death with a requiem High Mass at St. Patrick’s Church, under the leadership of Rev. James L. Smith.  Albert Kaminski sang “My God, My Father, While I Stray.” 

Marion Stupcenski is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Collinsville. 

“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.  Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.