Leelanau Laminator Jerry Morawski has many nicknames
By Norm Wheeler
Sun co-editor
Little Glen Lake’s Jerry Morawski is everywhere. The retired teacher, coach, principal, and athletic director seldom misses a local event, be it a ballgame, a tennis match, a Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate 20th anniversary party, or a gathering at either Cherry Republic or St. Philip Neri Church. He is always upbeat, positive, affable, approachable, smiling, and ready with a story. When he sees something in a local newspaper about an athlete, a family, or a local character, he carefully laminates it and then presents it to the subject of the story so that they can keep it forever. That’s how he got the nickname “The Leelanau Laminator.” His smile is infectious, and his stories are heartfelt and uplifting.
Morawski is a graduate of St. Ladislaus High School in Hamtramck, Mich., class of ’59. “The school is known for their baseball team, but I played basketball and football,” Morawski said. As an educator and an athlete, his career included being a teacher, an elementary and junior high principal, and a coach and athletic director. He retired from education in 1993, then he and Debbie promptly moved up here.
“In November of 1978 there was a little green cottage for sale on the north shore of Little Glen Lake. I still have the picture.” He remembers saying, “I’m not gonna pay $35,000 for that shack! And I didn’t – I paid $34,500.” The little green cottage has been replaced by a fine home where Morawski lives now.
Sadly, his wife Debbie passed away on April 5, 2023. Morawski was her primary caregiver as she slipped into dementia. “My favorite nickname used to be the Leelanau Laminator, but then my daughter-in-law Terri, Mark’s wife, came up with Confident Caregiver, and that’s my favorite now.” As of yesterday, Morawski has accumulated 46 nicknames, and he keeps track of whoever gives him the handles. Debbie named him Best Husband. Grandkids Coco & Bodhi Morgan and Maddy & Ellie Morawski call him Grandpa Jer or Handy Grampy. Good friend Georgeanne Henshaw Youmans has tagged him as the Glen Arbor Barber (from when he was cutting Debbie’s hair), Culture King, Doughboy, Husher, Master of Memories, Mad Hatter, The Count, and Mr. Going with the Flow. Jaison Morgan calls him the 1st Cherry Public House Pub Club Member or Hometown Hero. On the Glen Lake Yacht Club Board of Directors, he is called Lightning Rod. It was Peter Bergin’s family who originally named him the Leelanau Laminator. Morawski even has a few nicknames for himself: Dumpster Diver, Frugal Pollack, Homily Timer, Multitasker, and Spouting Whale (his Indian Guides name).
When my grandson Leo and I visited Morawski for this story, he was just finishing some new laminations. There was a story about Colebrook Sutherland’s first time voting in a national election on Bobby Sutherland’s blog that Jer wanted to preserve, as well as two stories about Clint Couturier’s cousins making the Enterprise Dream Team for Cross Country, and Colebrook Sutherland being chosen as MVP of the Dream Team. “For that he gets the whole package,” Morawski smiles. “The picture of the whole team, plus all of the write-ups about his individual successes.”
Bob Sutherland, Glen Lake tennis coach and CEO of Cherry Republic, sums up the positive energy Jerry Morawski brings to our entire community like this: ““Jerry is a ray of sunshine, and we have an unofficial rule at [Cherry Republic] that no matter how big the meeting is, we stop for a fill of his immense positive energy. Everyone—the bankers, lawyers and other professionals, and certainly my team—all gain from a visit from the Leelanau Laminator.
“At home we have a post between our kitchen and dining room that gets covered each year with his laminations of my family. Last year, when he came for Christmas, it was so fun to show him his work. This year, the post is already full with fall season sports laminations, and we have started covering some of the cupboards. I don’t know how he finds the time knowing there are so many others that are lucky to receive his gifts.”
