Lily Paula Godek died on April 24. She was 88.

Lily Paula Kryla was born on Jan. 5, 1931 to Lillian S. and Stanley F. Kryla in Central Falls, R.I. She graduated from Central Falls High School and then worked with her parents and brother at their family restaurant Stanley’s as a counter girl serving their famous burgers. As a young girl, she would spend summers with her grandmother in Harmony, R.I. at her travelers lodge. Lily kept busy swimming, sketching the summer scenery and helping out with the guests, the cottages, row boats and helping to serve dinners her grandmother had prepared nightly. A member of both the Rhode Island speed skating and cycling clubs, her awards included medals and trophies in cycling and skating short track competitions. She would train from Providence to Boston and back on her racing bicycle, drafting with the gang behind tractor trailer trucks on Route 1. Lily was a force to be reckoned with. When Harmony Lake froze she would train and listen to the crackling ice behind her where it was too thin to support the weight. No fear, she flew past defying the limits! She won in the Nationals at cycling.

Miss Magee was Lily’s mentor who taught her etiquette and how to be a lady. She excelled at being classy, yet was a fiery woman too.

Lily met Walter Godek, the grill man at her parent’s restaurant. They married May 4, 1956 and moved to Cumberland, R.I. Melanie, Gretschen and Kurt were born and Lily was full of life. She enjoyed writing, painting, sculpting, sewing and knitting everything under the sun. She started a bicycle club with all the kids in the neighborhood during the summertime. The winter months brought night skiing after supper with anyone brave enough to stay out in the cold until she was ready to come home. Lily even took up flying at North Central airport where she would head into the skies with Sabe her instructor.

Her traveling experiences brought her to ancestral Poland and she eventually visited 18 European countries by plane, train and ship. She also loved shopping and eating out.

At one trip to the Kentucky Derby, she bet on Winning Colors and won.

The family moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1974. Lily continued to be a snowbird, but New England was always home.

Her oldest daughter Melanie came to the Vineyard in 1978 and Lily followed, sensing adventure. In 1982 Lily and Walter decided to open a hamburger joint like her parent’s place and found a spot on Circuit avenue in the Arcade building. With good food, a great breakfast, Walter and Kurt on the line in the kitchen, and the girls out front, Lily established the first non-smoking restaurant 10 years before the Massachusetts laws changed. Meanwhile, she became grandmother to Jasmine and Zenon who were running in and out of the restaurant with friends gobbling up Stanley burgers after playing in the Camp Ground. Her favorite times at Stanleys’ were when famous celebs and politicians would walk through the door and she could come out of the kitchen and talk up a storm and snap a pics with them. For 21 summers the ship stayed afloat and everyone in check. Lily was a proud restaurateur with family at her side.

Her favorite team was the Red Sox. She watched from season opener to the last game, hoping to see her guys make it to the series again.

Lily loved her family dearly and gave all she had. She will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.

A celebration of life will be held in the summertime and announced at a later date.