An Army veteran, Ed served in the Signal Corps during World War II in England, France and Germany. After returning home from the war, he married Nellie Kuylen and the two of them for many years ran a small neighborhood grocery store, EdNell’s Market, at Martin and Pinehurst in Roseville.
In 1956, Ed and Nellie had a modest brick home built next to the store and raised their family there. For much of the 1960s and ‘70s, the Selweski house was a frequent gathering place for kids in the neighborhood who enjoyed the family’s hospitality.
The Selweskis became a mainstay in the Sacred Heart parish family and Ed coached the Sacred Heart Thorns little league baseball team for several years, including his right fielder, son Chad.
As a younger man, Ed was a Red Wings fan and enjoyed collecting autographs from sports stars and entertainers. Despite his humble beginnings, he became an art collector and liked to delve in the stock market. He was successful in both endeavors. In later years, after the family store closed, Ed worked at various locations for Yezbick’s Auto Parts.
Born Dec. 20, 1920, in Detroit, his only sibling, sister Teresa, died at age 11 in 1929. His father, Francis, died about a year later. Ed and his mother struggled together through the Great Depression, living on Goodson Street in Hamtramck. His mom, Amelia Michaluk, died in 1971, still living in the same house where Ed grew up.
Ed and Nellie spent a lifetime providing for their kids, including tuition to Catholic school and college, but the family was devastated when Nellie, Ed’s wife of 44 years, died suddenly in 1994. Ed continued living in that little house on Martin Road for a total of nearly 60 years, until his final days when he went to an assisted living center.
Here is Edward J. Selweski’s legacy:
Ed’s daughter, Teresa (Rick) Sorrenti, the 1970 valedictorian at Sacred Heart High School, went on to become a high-ranking administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration in Washington, working with 26 federal agencies to standardize electronic transactions and serving on a United Nations committee for electronic business standards.
Ed’s oldest son, Mark (Michele) Selweski, who attended Sacred Heart from first grade until it closed after his freshman year of high school, also pursued a career in the nation’s capital and is now an accomplished contract specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as the deputy director of the Procurement Services Staff.
Chad is a veteran, award-winning journalist at The Macomb Daily and he and his wife, Maria, have been happily married for 35 years.
Barry (Andrea) Selweski, the youngest, is a safety technician who operates a Consumers Energy compression station in Macomb County that oversees hundreds of miles of gas pipelines.
Ed is also survived by his grandkids, Jeremy (Natalie), Jessica (Mike), twins Chelsea and Trevor, and Jillian.
Visitation will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. at the neighborhood funeral home, Kaul’s, 27830 Gratiot, south of 11 Mile Road. A funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, located on Gratiot at Utica Road, with a viewing at 9:30 a.m. A brief military ceremony will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery, located within walking distance from the church on Martin Road.
At that time, Ed will be laid to rest next to Nellie, and he will rejoin his beloved wife at God’s heavenly gates.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.9.5