Changing to meet the needs of fraternalists.
"Joining Hands To Touch Lives-Fraternalism for the Family and Our Nation'
Official Publication Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, Founded 1897 BROTHERHOOD
HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 to: SPJST Home Office, P. 0. Box 00, Temple, Texas 76503 September 10, 1997 ISSN-07458800 VOLUME 85 NUMBER 34
Two Checks Are Better Than One
Family Fun and Important SPJST Dates September 13 rSeptember 13 September 14 September 20 September 21 September 21
SPJST Supreme "odge recen y presented a second check to the .-.onc. 1 I lcDonald House of Temple. The $13,000 gift complements a $4,000 check that was presented to the program in March. The funds represent profits generated from the sale of the SPJST 100th Anniversary Cookbook. On hand for the presentation were, from left, front: Suprem9 Lodge Vice President Leonard Mikeska, District Five Director Louis Hanus, Supreme Lodge President Howard Leshikar, Ronald McDonald House Fund Raising Chairman Carol Reeb, Ronald McDonald House Executive Director Susan Bolton, Ronald McDonald House Vice President and President-Elect Libba Dusek, Supreme Lodge Chairman and District Six Director Matt Vanek and Supreme Lodge Secretary-Treasurer Lanita Anglin. BACK: Supreme Lodge Legal Advisor Sidney Kacir, District Three Director Johnnie Krizan, Supreme Lodge Vice Chairman and District Four Director Stanley Broz, District One Director Andrew Vavra, District Two Director Frank Klinkovsky and District Seven Director Bob Bayer. The mission of the Ronald McDonald House of Temple is to provide a home away from home for families with seriously ill children receiving medical treatment at local hospitals.
From the Houston Chronicle...
100 Years of Tex-Czech (Editor's Note: The Sunday, August 31, 1997 edition of the Houston Chronicle, with a circulatation of approximately 750,000, carried the following story in its Texas Magazine supplement.) By Allan 'Iltrner About the last thing you'd expect to find in the basement of a life-insurance building is a bullet necklace. But there it is, lovingly displayed, a pendant made of three slugs that battlefield medics dug out of Jerr iletka's knee and neck in World War I. n's just up the hall from the petrified snake, the cluster of historic polka instruments and a mountain-size sample of Joseph Koliha's collection of 70,000 pencils. When members of the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas — the state's largest nonreligious Czech social-aid and pleasure club — finally cash in their policies, it's not uncommon for them to leave something behind for the home office here in Temple.
It may seem strange that a place of actuarial tables and dry-eyed assessments of likely longevity could engender such warmth. But the order, better known by its Czech initials, SPJST, is more than a purveyor of life insurance. It's a way of life. It's about a family, self-reliance, culture and compassion. For generations, the scores of SPJST lodge halls dotting the back roads of the Czech belt between Houston and San Antonio and north of Temple have been the glue holding rural communities together. "Next to the family, next to God," legal adviser Sidney Kacir observes, "comes the SPJST." Today the SPJST, which this summer celebrated its 100th anniversary, maintains 114 lodges with about 40,000 members. Their world little resembles that of the organization's first members, immigrant farmers leading a hardscrabble frontier existence. But the order's appeal to an increasingly urban clientele remains the same: financial security and a chance
September 21 October 5 October 19 October 19 November 15 November 15
District Four Fall Meeting, hosted by Lodge 160, San Angelo Children's Miracle Network Dance, Lodge 24, Cyclone Lodge 189, Bryan - College Station 20th Anniversary Dinner Czech f.eritage Day at Lodge 92, Fort Worth Districi Two Fall Meeting, hosted by Lodge 80, Holland District Five Fall eeting at Crosby American Legion, hosted by Lodge 65, Crosby and Lodge 91, Crosby District Six Fall Meeting at Lodge 30, Taiton Lodge 15, uckholts Centennial Homecoming District One Fall Meeting, hosted by Lodge 17, New Tabor Gulf Coast Czech Festival at Lodge 172, Pasadena SPJST State Volleyball Tournament, Bruceville/Eddy High School Gymnasiums Deadline for Fraternalist of the Year nominations to in 'J.: Home Office.
Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall You're always welcome to visit the SPJST Heritage Museum, located in the SPJST Home Office in Temple, Texas. The SPJST Home Office is located at 520 North Main in Temple. A major goal of the SPJST Museum is to preserve the Czech cultural heritage by teaching Czech history and traditions. It also stands as a memorial to the pioneer Czech forefathers and mothers who settled Texas, Museum hours are Monday - Friday, 8 - 12 and 1 - 5 and on weekends by special arrangement.
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That's how long the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas has filled its lodges with a curious mixture of life insurance, polka and Czech life to have some fun. From the tiny Central Texas town of Holland, where hundreds pack a Thursday-night bingo game — "This is our family bonding time," one player quips — to a Houston lodge where graying dancers dip and sway in polkafueled bliss, SPJST functions are eagerly anticipated in thousands of households across the state. "It just gives you a feeling of belonging," explains one lodge president. "It makes you feel like you're part of something worthwhile." From grandmas to toddlers, all ages are drawn to Lodge events.
"The whole family can go to one place — all age groups," says state youth director Joni Lange. "This is about the unity of the family." Although as many as a third of its members are not of Czech descent — English replaced Czech as the group's official language almost 40 years ago — an Old World ethos still pervades the SPJST. Many of the group's leaders can trace their ancestry to the first Czechs in Texas. President Howard Leshikar believes he may be a descendant of Josef L. Lesikar, the tailor from Nepomuk who organized the first move
"It just gives you a feeling of belonging. It makes you feel like you're part of something worthwhile."
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