Born in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1909, she immigrated to the United States in 1924 and settled in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1927, she met and married Ukrainian immigrant William Pillin.
They lived near Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 1936-1940; Chicago from 1940-1948; and finally Los Angeles, California, from 1946 until their deaths (William in 1985, Polia in 1992).