JOHN AND MARIE [KAISER] VONDRACEK
John Vondracek, born in Steprenov, Bohemia, on June 16, 1855, was
the son of Frank Vondracek and Marie Vlckova Vondracek. He came to
America at an early age with his family who settled in Chicago where
John grew up.
[pg 459 photo Wedding of John Vondracek and Marie [Kaiser]
Vondracek - from left: Frank Vondracek, John’s brother; bridesmaids’
name unknown, John Vondracek, and Marie Kaiser Vondracek]
He was married in 1885 in Chicago to Marie, daughter of Simon and
Rosie Kaiser. Marie was born in Chicago, and at the present, little
is known about her parents’ families. She had three sisters and one
brother.
John and Marie were the parents of two daughters and six sons: Leo,
Emily, twins Victor and Victoria, George, Otto, Joe, and John. When
their children were quite small, the family operated a neighborhood
grocery store in Chicago. Later John bought a dairy there in the
city that shipped in milk which he and his older sons delivered to
city customers.
The family had much musical talent - Marie sang in light opera in
Chicago before her marriage, and several of her children took
lessons and learned to play the piano, clarinet, trombone, violin,
and tuba.
When the oldest children were in their teens, the family moved to
Goodland, Kansas, because of Mr. Vondracek’s health. They remained
there, living on a farm for several years, however, Goodland wasn’t
the wheat and sugar beet success it is now. In fact, hardly anything
grew there.
Mr. Vondracek became acquainted with Mr. Joe Ondracek of Verdigre
through a mutual correspondence due to an article John wrote in a
Czech newspaper. The Vondraceks became interested in the Nebraska
location, so John, Sr., Victor, and George visited Verdigre in 1913.
They liked the picturesque little community and John decided to
bring his family here the following year of 1914.
The Vondraceks lived first on a farm in the Sparta locality, then
later moved to the Tikalsky farm - now the property of the Gordon
Burkhardts’ - where they lived for several years.
While farming in Verdigre, both John and his wife Marie were active
in the Catholic Church and several organizations. John considered
himself a “gentleman farmer” however, and his sons did most of the
farm work while he supervised.
In Verdigre Leo, the eldest son, developed diabetes, and died at the
age of thirty. George, the couple’s fifth child, was inducted into
the army in 1918 during World War I and was sent to Camp Funston,
Kansas, where he served in the 41st Infantry Band.
George married Mamie Holan of Verdigre in 1920 and was the only
member of the family to remain here after the family moved back to
Chicago. George and Mamie had five children: Rosemary, George, Jr.,
Marguerite, John, and Joe (see George Vondracek family history).
John, Jr., graduated from Verdigre High School before returning to
Chicago, and it was in Verdigre that Emily met her future husband,
Michael Krupa, who was an Army Band buddy of George’s. Mike was a
native of Russia, became a U. S. citizen, and happened to be
assigned to the same camp as George. Since Mike had no family in the
U. S. George invited him to Verdigre for a furlough and it was then
that he was introduced to Emily and married her in Chicago soon
after the war. Mike and his sons owned and operated a Sinclair
station in Chicago for many years. Mike and Emily had three
children: Dan, Dorothy, and Leo. Dan and his wife, Barbara, had one
boy and one girl. Dorothy and her husband, Jerry Woodrow, had three
boys and two girls.
The three youngest sons wanted to attend college and John, Sr., was
ready to retire from farming, so the family returned to the Chicago
suburb of Brookfield, Illinois, where they purchased a large,
three-flat apartment building and lived there until their deaths -
John in 1938 and Marie in 1939.
Otto and Joe attended Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana;
John, Jr., attended the University of Illinois, and all three became
pharmacists. They opened a drug store in Berwyn, later building a
much larger one on the corner of Ogden and Ridgeland in Berwyn,
which they operated until Otto’s death in 1968. Joe died in 1947,
and John in 1948. The three sons, as well as their sister, Victoria,
who lived with her parents and her brothers to keep house for them,
never married. Victoria died in 1980; Emily in 1984.
John, Jr., enlisted and served as a pharmacist in the U. S. Navy
during World War II in the Pacific theatre.
Victor, a master plumber in Chicago, married Emily Zajicek of
Brookfield and they had two children; Leo, also a master plumber,
who with his wife, Pat, lives in Brookfield, and Marie Vondracek
Hayward is a pharmacist in Elgin, Illinois, and lives there with her
husband, Don, also a pharmacist. Leo and Pat have two sons, and
Marie and Don are the parents of four daughters and three sons.
The Vondracek family did much traveling throughout the U. S. and the
children of George, Sr., will never forget the marvelous experiences
their grandparents, uncles, and aunts shared with them when George
and Mamie took them to visit their relatives. Every trip included
visits to historical and art museums, aquariums, planetariums,
theatres, concerts, shopping in the “Loop,” riding the “El” from the
suburb to the city; visiting amusement parks and Lake Michigan;
everything from Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois, to the
Brookfield Zee which was practically in their grandparents’ back
yard!
Even though John and Marie Vondracek with their family spent only a
few years of their lives in Verdigre, their grandchildren are
thankful that one of them, their dad George, Sr., stayed behind to
find his niche in life and make a permanent home for his family.
Pages 459, 460
