A mysterious benefactor I never met molds my life

A mysterious benefactor I never met molds my life: "A mysterious benefactor I never met molds my life
Generous spirit A chance meeting between a Polish girl's father and an American traveler changes her future
Sunday, October 16, 2005
GOSIA WOZNIACKA

LVH ED:
A great read. Don't miss it

T he story begins in a train somewhere on the border of Poland and East Germany in the late '70s, when both nations are still communist. A man is caught riding without a ticket. A gruff conductor threatens to throw him off the train at the nearest station.

Another man, not related to the first, pays his passage. This man -- my father, a Pole -- knows that he will probably never get his money back. In a seat across from him, a short-haired, modestly dressed woman silently observes the scene."