Appolonia Jankowski was born at 10:00 a.m. on December 11, 1899 in the small farming community of Rolling, Wisconsin, near Antigo. She was the third child of Mike Jankowski and Rosalia Lewandowski. Her older brother John had been born on June 4, 1897, and Rosa had given birth to a stillborn child in January of 1899.

Lena grew up on the farm in Antigo. In time, she had three more siblings. Joseph was born on December 24, 1901, but died just over a year later. A sister Anna was born on July 18, 1904, and brother Ed on December 3, 1906. Sometime around 1919, the family grew again, when Mike and Rosa took in Celia Zielinski, whose parents John and Catherine both died at young ages.

When Lena was 18, she moved in with her aunt Appolonia Lewandowski Danowski (Rosa's sister) and her uncle Joe in Menasha. There she went to vocational school to learn how to sew. She attended school for one year, then took a job with Menasha Woodenware piling wooden pail handles. She worked for one year before returning to Rolling to help on the farm. The next winter, she returned to Menasha and the Danowski's, and got a job with Jersild's Knitting Mill, spooling yarn for 50¢ an hour. She worked there for five years.

During her time in Menasha, Lena became great friends with her cousin, Helen Danowski. The close friendship would last for the rest of their lives. The Danowski's lived down the street from Frank and Margaretta (Sofia) Zielinski. Appolonia Danowski and Sofia were good friends and visited each other often. It was during one of these visits, when Lena accompanied Appolonia, that Lena met Lawrence. The couple began dating, and the rest, as they say, is history...