JOSEPH AND MARY [HAVEL] VITERNA, SR.
Joseph Viterna, Sr., was born November 5, 1881. He and his twin
brother, John, were the first twins born in Knox County, Nebraska.
During his childhood, Joseph received his education at the Armstrong
rural school.
[pg 452 photo Josef Viterna, Sr., and Mary Havel married December
15, 1908]
Mary Havel was born August 10, 1890, at Rogers, Nebraska, to Joseph
and Barbara Svoboda Novak Havel. She was baptized into the Catholic
faith on September 14, 1890, in a rural church near Clarkson,
Nebraska. Mary attended a rural school near Rogers to the eighth
grade. She helped her parents on the farm until she was sixteen, and
then she worked as a domestic in the area. Later she moved to Jelen
to help her half-brother, Vac Novak, and the Louis Rudloffs. Here
she met Joseph Viterna and they were married on December 15, 1908,
at Center, Nebraska.
They had seven children: Sylvia, born November 19, 1909, married
Lloyd Potter on May 14, 1943; Vlasta, born April 17, 1911, married
Frank W. Kreycik on May 11, 1938; Evelyn, born November 12, 1912,
married Walter G. Tuch on May 11, 1938; Joseph, born July 20, 1914,
married Arvilla B. May on June 14, 1939, and he passed away June 26,
1969; Emil, born December 3, 1916, married Marie Paul on May 11,
1938; Mary, born May 24, 1918, married Emil Juracek on June 14,
1939. Emil passed away on July 31, 1961, and Mary married Gilbert
Romero on November 12, 1962. Blanche was born living,
and married Robert Dunton in June of 1955. In May of 1959 Blanche
married Jim Vega.
`
After Joseph and Mary were married, they farmed with his parents,
Jan and Anna, until they retired. Then Mary and Joseph farmed the
land themselves. This farm was the old Viterna homestead which was
first farmed in 1880. It consisted of the South Half of the
Southeast Quarter of Section 21 of Bohemia Township, the Northeast
Quarter and North Half of the Southeast Quarter of Section 28 of
Bohemia Township, and 40 acres in the northwest corner of the
Southwest Quarter of Section 27 of the same township. Total acreage
was 360. The Viternas were well-known breeders of Red Shorthorn
cattle. Their farm was known as “Red Shorthorn Stock Farm.”
Joseph lived his entire life in Verdigre and was active in many
things. He was the assessor in Bohemia Township for 20 years,
Treasurer of School District 27, one of the first members of the
Knox County Farmers’ Union, active member of the Verdigre Farmers’
Co-op Association, Treasurer of the National Bohemian Cemetery
Association, and a ZCBJ Lodge member. He retired from farming in
1943 and passed away on December 26, 1950, due to a stroke. He was
laid to rest in the Jelen Cemetery.
Mary was very fond of her garden and flowers and enjoyed various
hobbies such as decorative pin cushions. She also enjoyed making
jellies and noodles. In 1974, she moved to the Czech Alps Terrace
and in 1980 to Alpine Village where she passed away on April 19,
1984. Mary was laid to rest beside her husband in the Jelen
Cemetery.
-Submitted by Brian Mlady
Page 452
