VESTNIK July 20:Layout 1
7/15/11
Volume 99 Number 29
ˇ ´ VESTNIK
1:59 PM
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S P J S T Benevolence
H E R A L D
Humanity
ISSN —07458800
Brotherhood
July 20, 2011
Lodge 6, Cottonwood member Ruth Krizan achieves the Grand Age of 96
2011-2012 District Two Royalty
The 2011-2012 District Two Royalty are, left to right, Duke Michael Hoelscher of Lodge 24, Cyclone; King Jerry Pechal of Lodge 47, Seaton; and Queen Alyssa Torres and Duchess Emily Filla, both of Lodge 48, Beyersville. They were crowned on Saturday, July 9, 2011, at District Two Youth Achievement Day held at Lodge 24, Cyclone.
2011-2012 District Six Royalty
The 2011-2012 District Six Royalty are, left to right, Duchess Trianna Manzano of Lodge 40, El Campo-Hillje and Queen Jessica Fucik, King Ryan Drapela, and Duke Luc Marcaurele, all of Lodge 30, Taiton. They were crowned on Sunday, July 10, 2011, at District Six Youth Achievement Day held at Taiton Community Center.
Interest Rates.......................................3 Important Dates ...................................3 Readers Write ......................................3 Corpus Christi Getaway Info ..............3 Lodge Section......................................4 Reunions ..............................................8
SPJST congratulates Sister Ruth Mechell Krizan, a member of Lodge 6, Cottonwood, who celebrated her 96th birthday on May 25, 2011. As such, Sister Krizan is entitled to all SPJST member benefits with no further dues or assessments required. Today, the farming communities that lay east of Interstate 35 in southern Hill and northern McLennan Counties in the vicinity of West are fairly quiet. But a century ago, places like Tours, Abbott, Penelope, and Ross were bustling with the sights and sounds of many small farms and big families. It was just north of here — near the Liberty Grove community — that Ruth Mechell Krizan was born on May 25, 1915, to Jan and Aloise (Hrabal) Mechell. Ruth’s arrival was preceded by the birth of Julia, Ed, Zophie, Christine, and John and followed by the arrival of Emil. All are gone now except for Ruth. According to Ruth, just about everyone in the community raised cotton and corn, had big gardens, fruit trees, livestock, and chickens to provide food for their families year round. Root cellars were good for keeping things like potatoes, apples, turnips, and other produce good through the winter. Canning was also a big thing for preserving vegetables and meats. As the youngest daughter, Ruth was excused from much of the field work that needed to
Inside This Week’s Vestnik
Financial University...........................11 In Memoriam ......................................11 Youth Section ....................................13 Czech Culture ....................................19 Advertisements.............................20-21 Lodge Calendar .................................22
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Lodge 139 Danbury member collects tabs for RMH
be done on the Mechell farm. Instead, she worked close beside her mother in the kitchen and tended to chores around the house. In addition to raising livestock and chickens, Ruth’s brothers hunted squirrels, rabbits, and other small game. They also caught plenty of fish in the nearby creeks. Because of these wild food resources and their own ability to raise a variety of produce and livestock, the Mechell family didn’t feel the Great Depression quite so badly as those who lived in the cities. Even if there wasn’t much cash to go around, one thing that was in plentiful supply was music which was fortunate for Ruth as one of her favorite pastimes growing up was going to the community dances. It was in fact while attending one of these dances in the town of Ross, that a young farmer named John Rudolph Krizan from Cottonwood asked Ruth to dance. “I didn’t know the boy,” Ruth recalls. “I didn’t want to turn him down and make him feel bad so we danced.” One dance led to another and before long, Ruth and John became an inseparable couple. The two were married in October 1938 and took up farming in the area. A son, John “Johnnie” Rudolph, Jr., was born to Ruth and John in 1947. Four years later, in 1951,
Continued on Page 10.
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Lodge 30 Taiton youth celebrates 16th birthday at YAD
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TCGS partners with SPJST to scan/archive Vestniks