FAMILY STORIES

100th anniversary, my wife was vice president of the Rosary Society.

   In February, 1973, a Jaycee Chapter was started in Prague. I was one of the charter members, which numbered 23. I am a member of the Malmo Legion Post #232, Saunders County Youth Service Systems, Prague Area Jaycee, FFA Advisory Council, and the Outstanding Young Men of America. I have held various offices in the Prague Area Jaycee, one of which was president in the 1977-1978 term.

   I also belong to Wedding Photographers International, Professional Photographers of Nebraska and Professional Photographers of America.

   Our summer Sundays are filled with family outings. A favorite spot is the Henry Doorly Zoo with a picnic lunch.

   Some of our projects on the farm have been to put up a new windbreak, two cribs, three bins, and a 12-sow farrowing house.

   My parents are Mr. and Mrs. James D. Sousek Sr. My grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Sousek and Mr. Ed Stuchlik. Submitted by James D. Sousek Jr.

   James, son of Frank J. Sousek and Anna Vanek, attended District 84 for the first 8 years and graduated from Prague Public School in 1943. He entered the army in April of 1944, left for Europe, January of 1945, and came back to the United States in August of 1945. He went in as an infantryman, and, being the only one able to type out of 400 replacements, became a clerk typist. He received a Bronze Star for meritorious service, and was discharged as a Corporal in February of 1946.

James and Charlotte Sousek

   I, Charlotte, daughter of Ed. J. Stuchlik and Helen Busek, attended District 28 for 8 years, and graduated from Weston High School in 1946. I taught one year on a Temporary Certificate, attended summer school at UNL, and taught one more year. I met Jim at a dance shortly after he was discharged from the service. We were married in August of 1948. The priest that married us thought every couple should have a honeymoon. If we went, nothing was expected for performing the ceremony; otherwise, a donation of $100 was required.

   We have four children. James Jr., who served 4 years in the Navy, married Roberta Pojar and they have two sons, Jeff and Donny. Jeanne, who is married to Dwight Rasp, has a daughter, Jenny. Julie, married to Vern Slechta, has a daughter, Jill. John is still at home and is planning on farming. They all graduated from Prague Public School.

   Jim and I have lived on this farm all of our married lives. Jim is a diversified farmer, raising corn, wheat, milo, oats and beans and grade cattle, and has a farrow-to-finish hog operation.

   We attend the Plasi Catholic Church. We belong to Nebraska Czechs Inc. of Saunders County where we have each served as its president. Jim has also served as president of the state organization. We are members of singing groups, and John has been a singing member of the Jr. Czechs and, also the Czech Teens. Julie served as Czech Queen in 1975 for our club.

   Jim plays an accordion and harmonica by ear, and plays mostly for his friends and his own enjoyment. I have worked as a cook at the Livestock Lunchroom in Wahoo since 1975. My hobbies are crocheting, making quilts, sewing and baking.

   We had very little money the first year of our marriage. The weather was very bad and roads were impassable. So we could not shell corn for spending money. We never considered borrowing money. We just did without. One big decision to make was whether we could afford to buy chocolate for making fudge at Christmas. We didn't get electricity until December of 1949, and we continued to cook and heat with wood until 1956.

   At one time, the home we live in was used to store grain. Over the years, Jim has added on and remodeled our home to please me. Jim and I enjoy traveling, and almost always manage a vacation once a year. Submitted by Charlotte Sousek

   Victor J. Sousek and Joyce Odvody were married Oct. 24, 1959, at the St. John's Catholic Church at Prague. On March 30, 1934, Victor was born to Frank and Anna (Vanek) Sousek near Prague. There were five sons and two daughters in this family. Victor attended Dist. #84, a country school, that was across the road from the yard where the family lived. He attended Dwight Assumption High School for one year. Then he remained on the farm to help his father and brothers farm.

The Victor Sousek Family

   I was born January 13, 1938, to Vaclav and Emma (Pekarek) Odvody near Morse Bluff. Two sons and two daughters were born to their family. We all attended a country school, Dist. 51. We walked to and from school many days. When it was snowy and the roads were muddy, Dad would take us with horse and buggy. I attended Prague High School and graduated in 1955. That fall I went to Fremont and worked as a housekeeper for a family for four years.

   Then I married Victor and moved to the farm where he lived with his folks. We adopted three children and had one of our own. Martin was born April 23, 1965. He is a senior, plays football and basketball, is a member of a 4-H club, and is President of the F.F.A. In 1977, he was the Saunders County Czech Prince. The highlight of his junior year was when he got to go to Washington D.C. through the F.F.A. He plans to go to college and enjoys farming with his dad.

   Marcella, born April 25, 1967, is a sophomore and plays volley ball and basketball, is a cheerleader, is in F.H.A. and is a 4-H Club member. She was the 1981 Saunders Co. Czech Princess. She plays the organ in church and also plays the piano and trumpet.

   Marlene, born June 30, 1969, is in the eighth grade, belongs to the pep club and a 4-H club. She plays the clarinet and is active in sports.

   Mary was born on Christmas Eve in 1970. She is in the sixth grade and belongs to a 4-H club and plays the piano and flute.

   The children all attend Prague Public School.

   As a family, we belong to St. John's Catholic Church in Prague. We are members of the Saunders County Czech Club. Victor belongs to the Knights of Columbus, is a lector at our church, a member of the Fire Department, a board member of the Farmers' Coop Elevator, and is a member of the school board, Dist. 104. He is a leader of the Prague Pioneers 4-H Club, sings with the Saunders County Czech Singers, and enjoys playing his button accordions when he finds time.

   I belong to the St. John's Rosary Society and P.C.C.W., and am president of the Social-Lite Extension Club, and secretary of the Czech Club. I enjoy sewing and craft work. Submitted by Joyce Sousek

   Daniel was the second of five sons born to John and Adeline (Steinbach) Spicka. Daniel's brothers, Ron, John Jr., Jim, and their families all live in or near Weston. Dave lives in Lincoln.

Back Row: Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Spicka; Front Row, L. to R.: Mary and Lori.

   Sharon Kay Kucera was the oldest of four children born to Edwin and Marie (Ratkovec) Kucera. My sister, Sandy (Mrs. John Vlcan), lives in Wahoo. My brother, Gary, lives and farms with my folks near Weston. My brother Duane died at birth.

   Even though we were raised on farms only two miles apart, our paths rarely crossed. Daniel went to District #74 and Saint John's in Weston. I went to District #113. This school closed in 1962. The school house has since been moved to the State Fair grounds.

   We went to different churches -- Daniel to Saint John's Catholic Church in Weston; I, to Saint Vitus Catholic Church in Touhy.

   We both attended Weston High School. I was a freshman, Daniel a senior. In 1966, Daniel graduated from Southeast Community College in Milford with a degree in Diesel Technology. Daniel has worked for John Deere dealerships since graduation.

   We were married June 3, 1967 at Touhy. As was traditional, we were married at 9:30 A.M. We had a full day and night of celebration, including two meals, a reception, and dance.

   Daniel and I lived and worked in Fremont, then in Seward. We moved back to Saunders County in 1972 when Daniel took the Service Manager Position at Wahoo Implement, and I worked at John F. Kennedy College.

   Our first year back in Saunders County was quite an adventure! We needed a place to live while looking for our home. Near our parents was an abandoned farm home. We felt like real pioneers. We chopped trees and did a lot of clearing. Our house was heated with an old wood stove. We had no telephone. The "running water" consisted of one of us running with a pail out to the windmill. We did have electricity!

   In June, 1973, we moved into our home on North Locust. We now have two daughters -- Mary Jo was born in 1975 and Lori in 1979.

   I am now a licensed babysitter. We are members of Saint Wenceslaus Church. Mary Jo is in second grade at Saint Wenceslaus School.

   Dan is a member of Eagles and active in sports, especially golfing and bowling.

   I am involved in Saunders County Right to Life, Wahoo Mothers Study Club, and the Merry Mixers

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Extension Club. I am an assistant Brownie Leader, active in P.C.C.W. at church, and our Home-School Association.

   Our family loves to camp and fish in the summer. Daniel and the girls love winter sports while I prefer staying close to the fire! Submitted by: Sharon Kay Spicka

   Mary A. Spicka is pictured with her great-granddaughter, Debbie Spicka, her grandson, Ronald J. Spicka, and her son, John G. Spicka, all of Weston.

Mary A. Spicka: Four Generations

   The children of Ron and Gladys Spicka of rural Weston, Nebraska, Debbie (died at 2½), Steve, 15, Bill, 12, Susie, 11, Bobby, 8, and Ricky, 5, trace their family heritage back to Moravia, Czechoslovakia in the 1800's on both their mother's and father's family tree.

Ron Spicka Family

   Their great-grandmother, Mary A. Spicka (Pochop), born in 1898, barely made it to America by the hand of fate. Mary's father, who was head of the family at 17 after his dad's death, made the decision for his brothers and sisters and his own family to come to America. Joe Pochop took his wife and two daughters, Mary, 3 years, and Cledy, 9 months, along with his two brothers and two sisters, to meet the boat for America. However, it had left fifteen minutes early. They took the next boat six weeks later. They later discovered that the first boat never made it to America. The ship had sunk with no survivors.

   The family lived in Chicago for six months, their father working as a carpenter and blacksmith. Mary and her baby sister, Cledy, and four other children, who were born in America, (Joe, George, Ann, and Francis), settled and grew up on a homestead dugout near Beardsley, Kansas. Mary came to Nebraska when she was 16 to help raise the infant son of widower, John A. Spicka Jr. At seventeen she married John, and by age 26, she had 6 children, one being the step-son of John's first wife who died giving birth to twins (one of which died).

   Mary's sister, Ann, came to visit her 2 years after Mary's arrival and married Tom Vlcan. Since Mary died in 1970 shortly after the death of Debbie, the first child of Ron Spicka, the other Spicka children grew to know Ann as a close friend. Ann remembers the beautiful wild flowers growing around the dugout in Kansas.

   John A. Spicka's dad homesteaded in Nebraska four miles west of Weston with his two sons in a dugout with a log cabin on top. John A. Spicka Sr. was an orphan who came from Moravia, Czechoslovakia. He was born in 1849 and died in 1938. He is buried at the Weston Catholic Cemetery.

   John G. and Adeline Spicka are the paternal grandparents of the Spicka children who still live on the original homestead. John and Adeline had five children: Ron, Daniel, John, Jim, and Dave.

   The Spicka children's maternal grandparents are Stanley and Antoinette Stara who lived on a farm by Bruno, Nebraska. They had four children, Dolores, Gladys, Dennis, and Dave. Stanley F. Stara, their grandfather, was the youngest of thirteen children of Vaclav (James) and Anna Stara who both emigrated from Moravia.

   Ron and Gladys Spicka were married in 1965, and lived around rural Weston on a farm for the last 14 years. The children enjoy helping around the farm with chores and the animals, especially farrowing the baby pigs, playing in the pastures and creeks with their sleds, bikes, and Honda. They attend St. John's Catholic Church in Weston, St. John's School, and Neumann High School. By Ron and Gladys (Spicka).

   The Saunders County history of the Paul and Joan Spjut family began in July, 1942, when Joan Gustafson was born to Norman and Myrtle Gustafson of rural Mead.

   Paul, eldest of 2 sons born to Magnus and Rachel Spjut, Roseau, Minnesota, met Joan while he was teaching Jr. and Sr. High vocal music in Caledonia, Minnesota, and she was teaching kindergarten in Hopkins, Minnesota. They were married on Sunday, August 28, 1966 in the Covenant Church at Mead, Nebraska. They lived in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, and in Chicago while Paul attended seminary and Joan taught kindergarten. Their first child, Dana, was born in 1969 while Paul was serving his internship at First Covenant Church in Omaha. Upon completion of seminary, Paul served Covenant churches in Essex, Iowa and in Raytown, Missouri. David, their second child, was born in Red Oak, Iowa in 1972.

   In August of 1977, the family moved from Raytown, Missouri, to Ceresco, where Paul became pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

   While in Ceresco, Paul has served as Cub Master of Pack 161 and on the Ceresco Planning Commission as member and as chairman. She is presently teaching kindergarten in Ceresco.

   The family enjoys the geographic setting of Ceresco, rural with easy access to the cities of Lincoln and Omaha. Dana and David have enjoyed the community Bible Schools with one highlight being the "Rainbow Express" in the summer of 1981.

   A particular interest of Paul and Joan continues to be Christian Education. They have been involved in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and Bible Camps. They are both presently on National Christian Education Management teams in the Covenant. Paul is also a member of the Covenant Cedars Bible Camp Board. Joan is serving as the Christian Education Consultant Coordinator of the Midwest Covenant Conference. The Spjuts have also opened their home to foster children from Saunders County. By Paul Spjut

   Fred Stamp, son of John Stamp and his wife, Louise, nee Passo, was born April 11, 1858 in Schlokoff Mecklenbur, Germany. He was baptized in early infancy. In the spring of 1872, he was confirmed, and in the fall of the same year, he came to America with his parents, brother John, and two sisters, Sophie and Marie.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stamp

   After a stay of 2½ years in Mokena, Illinois, they came to Clear Creek, now known as Yutan, Nebraska. He helped build the Union Pacific Railroad tracks from Valley to Lincoln. All the workers got a free ride after it was finished.

   Then working as a farm hand, in January, 1880, he married Miss Wilhelmina Karloff, and started farming on the south edge of Yutan. After two years, he bought a farm north of town. While farming, Mr. Stamp originated a 90-day seed corn which was called Stamp's Early.

   Eleven children were born to this union. Anna married John Lehnert -- 1 son Carrol. Fred married Clara Martin -- daughters, Leona and Evelyn. Edith married C.B. Edquist -- adopted son Keith. Louis married Wm. Miller -- daughter Dorothy. Emma married Roy Samson -- adopted daughter Kathryn. John married Rosa K. Reese -- children, Marjorie, Winfred and Roselyn. Harry married Rosa L. Bettenhausen -- children, Leroy and Lois Jean.

   Twins, Elmer and Edward, died in early infancy shortly after the death of their mother, April 9, 1900.

   On July 11, 1901, Mr. Stamp married Miss Minnie Hilgert. Two children were born to this union. Dorothy married John Spech, and Hubert never married. On March, 1910, they retired and moved to Yutan.

   On Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, all the homes in their neighborhood, except theirs, was destroyed by a tornado in which 23 people lost their lives.

   Mr. Stamp was a member of the town board 2 years and also a member of the church council of St. John Lutheran Church for 15 years, and of which he was a Charter Member and a Sunday School teacher for a number of years. His wife, Minnie, was called out of this life April 22, 1950. He passed away June 19, 1951, at the age of 93 years. Submitted by Rosa L. Stamp

   My roots start in Narberth, Wales where I was born on September 22, 1888. I, Phoebe Phillips Stamp, was one year old when I arrived in America with my parents, Alfred and Maggie Phillips. Papa was considered "upper class" in Wales where he was a schoolmaster and choir director. However, his dream was to become a farmer, and that was realized when we settled on a farm two miles south of Leshara. I grew up on this farm along with my sister, Katie, and brothers, Gilbert and Vincent. We worked hard to help with the harvest. I especially remember the popcorn with the very short stalks that we would have to husk. Even though I had finished the eighth grade in school, papa would send

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