Sokol/Sokolice Milwaukee

Transcription

1 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER WINTER Edition Sokol/Sokolice Milwaukee 2016 HOLIDAY FOLK FAIR IS HISTORY Christmas is past In this issue CALENDAR...2 PRESIDENT S CORNER...3 HAROLD KRALIK..3 SOKOL GYMNASTICS NEWS FOLK FAIR...5 CHRISTMAS PARTY...6 MEMBERSHIP DUES BAKING DATES SET...7 And some of us head back to the gym SOKOL FAMILY HISTORY-VERA LUDWIGSEN.7 Artwork by Riana Hoeck.

2 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER Executive Board Kalendář (Calendar) President Sonia Riecan 1st Vice President John Kozlik 2nd Vice President Jaroslav Novotny Secretary Sonka Tostrud Treasurer Ann Cramer Financial Secretary Vacancy Education Director Mary Anne Gross Director of Women Jennifer Romine Director of Men Gerald Novotny To submit an item for the calendar or an article or letter for publication or to suggest a topic that you would like included in this newsletter please contact the editor: Gerald Novotny 1409 Iowa Drive Madison, WI Phone: (608) novotny01@sbcglobal.net General Membership Meetings First Monday of the Month 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Norway House GYMNASTICS CLASS Wednesdays Evenings 6:00 to 7:30 pm at the Norway House GYMNASTICS WINTER FROLIC January 25, :00 pm at the Norway House (All members are invited) CZECH DINNER BAKING SESSIONS February 24th & 25th See page 7. CZECH MOVIE - VELVET HANGOVER February 12, 2017 CANCELED! JATERNICE CZECH DINNER & BAZAAR February 26, 2017 MILWAUKEE SOKOL ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING March 6, :00 pm at the Norway House CZECH MOVIE - FIREMEN S BALL April 23, :30 pm at the Norway House

3 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER THE PRESIDENT S CORNER was brought and enjoyed by all. If you didn t come you missed out and were missed. Next up, we are getting ready for our Annual Jaternice Dinner, which is February 26 th. We need lots of volunteers, so please contact myself at (414) or Ann Cramer at (920) The mailing is out and calls are coming in, so it should be another great year. Then in March is the annual meeting on March 6 th, We hope many of you will attend so we can have a hearty exchange of ideas. Finally, as it is a New Year, I hope that all of you will think of it as a fresh start and a perfect time to show the people you love how much they mean to you and a perfect time to make changes in your lives if changes need to be made. There is no time like the present as one never knows what the next day will bring. I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting in February, at the Jaternice dinner and Annual meeting in March. Enjoy this beautiful winter season. Nazdar, Brothers and Sisters of Sokol Milwaukee, Happy New Year 2017 Everyone, The last few months were very busy for all of us in Sokol. In November we had the Holiday Folk Fair, and had a successful sales booth, a tasty food booth and beautiful cultural booth. We were also, well represented on all the posters, mugs, pins and postcards as myself and my dance partner, Jason were on all the materials. I was also, on the Morning Blend before the Folk Fair and was able to mention Sokol on the show, which was great and was a fun time. The segment is archived on line under themorningblend.com (November 16 th, 2016) in case you would like to see it and have not. Sonia Riecan, President Sokol Milwaukee FINANCIAL SECRETARY NEEDED Harold Kralik has completed his second (or is it his third) term as our Financial Secretary and will be spending more time with Joylyn as she cares for their grandchildren in Minnesota. Our thanks to Harold for years of service to Sokol in many capacities. This leaves a vacancy and we are hoping one of you can fill it. Duties of the Financial Secretary include: Keep accurate membership records. Submit membership reports to ASO & Central District. Collect membership dues. Help with the annual audit. Please consider stepping up to fill this need. Thank you to the many volunteers that it takes to run these booths. It is an amazing amount of work and each and every volunteer makes a huge difference. In December, we had our Christmas Party and a fun time was had by all. Mikulas, the Angel and Devil visited to see who was naughty or nice and a lot of yummy food

4 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER Gymnastics Update skills and to show what they have learned some of the apparatus. We also hope have a little fun. Thanks to our coaches for their time and effort in teaching our students to progress in their skills. Czech & Slovak film Series Artwork by Anna Esterle. After our successful performance at the Holiday Folk Fair we returned to the gym to concentrate on skills and developing routines, perfecting our marching and having some fun with pyramids. On October 23rd 26 people joined us to watch Lemonade Joe, and even though we had problems with the sound system donated $21. Velvet Hangover, which was to be shown on February 12th had been CANCELED because of a schedule conflict. Our next movie Firemen s Ball will be shown on Sunday April 23, 2017, at 1:30 pm. Our class is up to 27 girls now and it seems that each week brings a new student to our doors. I asked our gymnasts to submit illustrations about gymnastics for the newsletter and you can see some of their work in this issue. WINTER FROLIC Sokol members and gym families are invited to join us for a break from the long cold winter on January 25th when we will hold a WINTER FROLIC. 6:00 PM at the Norway House. This will give our gymnasts an opportunity demonstrate our marching Artwork by Juliana Hoeck.

5 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER Holiday Folk fair By Ann Cramer 2016 was again a successful year at the International Holiday Folk Fair for the Czechs. A big thank you to all the people who helped man the Food, Sales and Exhibit Booths. Special thanks to: Donna Roeber, General Chairman Mary Zelenka, Food Booth Daytime chair Sue Zelenka, Food Booth Kids Day chair Todd Michalek and Vera Frazier, Sales Booth chairs Matt Wenzel, Truck driver, delivery, and Zeli and gravy maker Sonia Riecan, Sonka and Mark Tostrud, Cultural Booth chairs Harold Kralik, Full time Sales Booth cashier Gerald Novotny, Jennifer Romine, Children s program Tami Roeber, Cultural Booth OUR FOOD BOOTH My husband, Keith and my family for all they do and the support they give me, My grandchildren, the reason I do this all for, and my mother, Vlasta Vojta, who believed if that if people were proud of their heritage and worked together to share it with others then the world would be a better place. She was one of the people that started the Holiday Folk Fair. OUR SALES BOOTH (upper) & CULTURAL BOOTH (lower) Holiday Folk FairBakers! The extraordinary things you accomplished! You made: 1,587 Kolače 1,760 Coffins 680 Beehives 33 Pie pans 88 Babovky 30 Strudels 246 Šatečky 212 Baskets 188 Walnuts 60 Hedgehog and 2 batches of Šišky quite an accomplishment AND we sold out of everything except a few prune kolače.

6 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER Sokol Christmas Potluck I didn t see anyone who didn't have a good time at our Christmas Pot Luck. Even those who, like me, received coal from St. Nickolas. American Sokol Organization (ASO) Membership Renewal Sokol Milwaukee I/we would like to renew my/our membership in the American Sokol Organization (ASO) Please find $ for my/our membership dues for 2017 Annual membership dues are $40 per member or $45 for members joining after I am over 80 years old and have been a member for 20 years and qualify for free membership. I/we would like to make a donation to Sokol Milwaukee of $ in memory of. Name: Address: City, State, zip code: Phone # Please write a check payable to Sokol Milwaukee. Mail completed form and check to: Ann Cramer 3769 County Road GG Oshkosh, WI 54904

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8 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER SOKOL FAMILY HISTORY VERA LUDWIGSEN sent us this family history which we are happy to share. The Ludwigsen s spend the winter in Texas. You can write to Vera at: Vera Ludwigsen 2204 Lost Greens Drive Mission, Texas Both of my parents were legal immigrants from what was then called Czecho Slovakia. They met on the boat crossing the Atlantic on the way to America. My dad was from the province called Moravia and my mother was from Bohemia. After Ellis Island, they went to their different destinations. Racine, Wisconsin was where my father s relatives resided. His uncle had sponsored him and had a job for him as a carpenter. Minnesota was where my mother joined her brother at a chicken farm and her job there was plucking feathers. women shared that. A son was born in Chicago. He died at the age of one. Shortly afterward, they moved to Racine and both my brother and I were born there. Home ownership was important to my parents and as soon as they could afford to buy a home they bought a duplex. Always, they wanted their own home and the idea of rental income appealed to them. That home was in our family for 54 years. The Cerny Family - Vera, Bill, Rudy & Anna, Rudy And Anna Cerny, After they had paid their debt to their respective sponsors they decided to relocate in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout the years, they had not communicated, so both deciding on that area was a coincidence. Why? There were more Czechs, better jobs, and the social life they wanted. Soon they reunited at a dance and were married in that city. It was a double wedding with my mother s brother. Being frugal they only bought one headpiece and the Because my mother had limited knowledge of the English language, my native language was Czech. When I started school - what a surprise - no one spoke Czech. In those days, there was no provision for bilingual education so I learned English very rapidly. Since my parents wanted to succeed in this country both went to school to learn the English language and became citizens. I remember quizzing them for their citizenship test.

9 SOKOL/SOKOLICE WINTER SOKOL FAMILY HISTORY alone and my seat passenger was Bill Snyder from Rembrandt Films who assured me that the communists would have a car for him and they would take me to my nearest relative. When we landed, he got through customs before I did, and came to find me and announced there s a whole room of people waiting for you. Sokol Hall, Racine. Our social center was the Czech hall in Racine. We went to plays, dances, gymnastics and other activities. Attached to the hall was a school and on Saturday afternoons we studied the Czech language. For many years, my father was the teacher. My parents never owned a car. Ed, my father s cousin, was a car dealer and one day he brought a car for my parents to buy. Before any decision could be made, my brother starting shouting that they should not buy that car because he thought it was a piece of junk. Well, as my mother told the story many times later, if Ed had brought a nice car we would have purchased it. As I child I was not appreciative of the problems and concerns of immigrant parents. America was so different from their life in Europe. It certainly was hard for them to change and adapt this new life. When I am in Texas I teach a lot of Mexicans and find that also they and their immigrant parents have similar worries. Today I am knowledgeable and proud instead of my heritage. Whenever I went to Europe to visit I felt as If I were returning home. My first visit there was in I was traveling Vera in Kroj, Well, yes there was. Both sides of my parent s family had sent representatives to greet me. And in the airport for the very first time I met some aunts, uncles, cousins, and the even the girlfriend that my father never sent for.

10 Sokol/Sokolice Milwaukee 7507 W. Oklahoma Avenue Milwaukee, Wi (Located in the Norway House) A Sound Mind in a Sound Body Sokol Gymnastics is for Every body. THE UNSUNG FOLK FAIR HEROES THE MOVING CREW And A Reminder: Member dues help keep Sokol Alive. See page 6.