ˇ ´ VESTNIK
Volume 100 Number 44
S P J S T Benevolence
H E R A L D
★ Humanity ISSN —07458800
★ Brotherhood
November 7, 2012
Lodge 157, Lubbock Member Angeline Cuba Shockley Achieves Grand Age of 96
Between 1834 and 1900, approximately 200,000 people of Czech descent immigrated from their native lands to America. Many of those found their way to Texas. Impressive numbers; however, statistics alone do not tell the story of Czech immigration and settlement in Texas. People do. One such person is Sister Angeline Shockley, a member of SPJST Lodge 157, Lubbock who recently achieved the Grand Age of 96. As such, Sister Angeline is entitled to all SPJST member benefits with no further dues or assessments required. Like so many of SPJST’s longtime and devoted members, Sister Angeline’s story is deeply rooted in the history of Texas. Our story begins with an early portrait of Runnels County, Texas — 1,060 square miles of broad, rolling prairie in west central Texas. Geo-
graphically, the Colorado River flows through the southern third of Runnels County, from northwest to southeast. Several streams, including Mustang, Oak, Elm, and Valley creeks, rise in the northern part of the county and flow south into the Colorado. The original inhabitants were Jumano Indians, whom the early Spanish explorers encountered in the mid-1650s. During the 1870s the rich grasslands of Runnels County began to attract stockmen
who were willing to risk Indian attacks. The extension of the Texas and Pacific Railway through in the 1880s brought the promise of new settlement. The lure of fertile and available land brought a flood of Czech and German immigrants to Runnels County. Included among them were the Bolf family from Victoria, Texas, and the Olsak family recently arrived from Vsetin, Moravia — now the Czech Republic. It was on January 2, 1910, in Runnels County
Congratulations to winners of the Vestnik’s Czech Heritage Month contests. A list of winners appears on page 17. Prizes are pictured above.
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Interest Rates.......................................3 Important Dates ...................................3 Job Postings........................................4 Lodge Section......................................6 Youth Section.....................................13 In Memoriam ......................................17
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Continued on Page 5.
Home Office staff enjoyed a noon luncheon on Halloween. Several staff are pictured with pumpkins which they decorated. Photos on page 12.
Inside This Week’s Vestnik
Vestnik Contest Winners ..................17 Death Claims .....................................18 Czech Culture ....................................19 Advertisements ............................20-21 Lodge Calendar .................................22 Sales Agents’ Contest.......................24
that young John Bolf took Mary Olsak for his wife and a new family had begun. First there was a son, Louis, and then another, Robert, Then on September 4, 1916, a precious daughter, Angeline, was born. The Bolfs farmed north of the Miles community in southwestern Runnels County where Angeline attended the one-room Red Bank School. Hard times on the farm took a turn for the worse, Angeline recalls, when the family moved on snowy January 2, 1932, from Runnels County to Levelland — approximately 225 miles to the northwest. As the name implies, says Angeline, “There were no trees . . . only prairies to see.” In spite of being blessed with fertile farmland, the region was sub-
Lodge 162 Iowa Colony hosts Halloween fun
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Scenes from Fraternal Alliance Of Texas Convention
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District Two Beseda Dancers perform at State Fair of Texas