[pg 234 PHOTO Frank and Stazie Dobry
FRANK AND STAZIE [RYCHTARIK] DOBRY
Frank Dobry, son of Albert V. and Marie Eret Dobry, was born May 24,
1888, on a farm in Saunders County in the vicinity of the
newly-established town of Morse Bluff. He was baptized in the Sacred
Heart Church, rural Cedar Hill.
In March of 1907 he moved with his parents by train to Knox County.
The Dobry family lived until 1910- on a rented farm northeast of
Verdigre. His schooling completed, he had begun to work out as an
agricultural laborer.
On one such occasion he was driving a horse-drawn hayrack with a
loaded gun beside him. The gun discharged and the bullet went
through his hand. He drove to the village despite the painfulness of
the injury. A part of the hand was subsequently amputated.
On August 26, 1913, he married Anastazie Rychtarik at the county
courthouse in Center. His own parents, the Albert Dobrys, had
purchased a farm at Jelen west of Verdigre in 1910 and there they
were neighbors to the Rychtariks.
Frank Dobry and his wife made their home with her parents. He
subsequently bought the quarter of land in Bohemia Township but the
home farm was handed down as an inheritance by his children. It was
river land and the north branch of Verdigre Creek ran through the
farmstead so that the children could play in its shallow waters. In
the 1880s and 1890s a mill had been located there.
His brother James and then his brother Anton farmed the land to the
south, and to the north, separated by a pasture, lay the land of his
parents (subsequently of his brother Edward). The brothers helped
each other in haying and threshing. Occasionally his little nephew
would walk down the hill to visit his cousins.
Four daughters were born to Frank and Stazie (as she was always
known). Stazie, born May 20, 1895, died unexpectedly on her
thirty-ninth birthday in 1934 following an operation in the Melvin
Hospital. Her mother remained on the farm to care for the two
younger daughters while they were still at school.
Blanche, born April 16, 1914, went to Omaha after graduating from
Verdigre High School in 1932. After doing clerical work for various
employers, she married Adolph Ambrose on June 27, 1936. There were
three children: Norman, Sandi, and Anne. On December 31, 1970,
cancer claimed her life.
Ella, born June 10, 1916, eloped with Edward Souhrada while still
attending high school. After their marriage on October 19, 1932, the
couple lived in various towns. Ella received her diploma from Crete
High School. She had two sons, Richard and Jerry. Edward Souhrada
died and some years later Ella married Thomas Cupita, who died a few
months after their marriage. For years Ella has lived in Omaha.
After graduating from Verdigre high School in 1936, Irene, who was
born February 2, 1918, also went to Omaha where she worked. On
October 26, 1942, she married Frank Williams. After the war she and
Frank had three children: Mary, Frances, and Frank, Jr. The couple
always lived in Omaha. Frank died in 1984.
Clarice, born living, followed the same pattern of going to
work in Omaha after her graduation in 1940 (there was not much
future in Verdigre during the Depression). However, Clarice also
served in the WAACs before marrying Wayne Best February 14, 1948.
They had four children: Dan, Carl, James, and a fourth son who died
in infancy. Much of the couple’s early married life was spent in the
Omaha area but they have been living in Colorado for years.
With the children all gone and his mother-in-law Mrs. Rychtarik in
town, Frank Dobry remained on the farm for a number of years until a
heart attack and then a stroke made him decide to move into Verdigre
in the early 1950s. Part of the time he lived with his daughter Ella
but later he moved into Mrs. Chase’s boarding house in the “new” T.
A. Tikalsky house. He worked at the Verdigre Creamery for years. He
also became president of the local ZCBJ Lodge - and a fifty-year
member. On March 2, 1964, while trimming trees at the Chase home he
was stricken. He was buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery at
Jelen in a lot with his wife and her parents, adjacent to the lot on
which his own parents were buried.
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