Memorials › Martha Sophia Kudrna Novotny Schmuck

Martha Sophia Kudrna Novotny Schmuck

15 May 1895 – 5 Jun 1973

Birth	15 May 1895
Death	5 Jun 1973
Cemetery	Mountain View Cemetery Riverton , Fremont County , Wyoming , USA
Added by	sophia1062 on 13 Oct 2012
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9307833

Bio

My mother Martha Sophia Kudrna was born on May 15, 1895 in Clarkson, Nebraska, the eldest child of Alois Kudrna and Marie Panek Kudrna. She was reared in a Czech environment. Her father, a successful Clarkson farmer, was the second of his family to have been born in the US. Her Bohemian-born mother taught her all the skills of being a fine homemaker and also taught her the meaning of independence. Mom became a marvelous cook and as a teenage prepared meals in a boarding house in Clarkson. The Kudrna Family, four girls and four boys, was tightly bound in love and respect throughout their lives. Martha married my father Robert Emil Novotny on the eighth day of February, 1915 at St John's Catholic Church in Huen (Howells), Nebraska,. Dad, also the eldest of his family, had rejected the family farm offered to him and instead saddled a horse and headed north to Montana, lured by mountains, game and the timbered country. As time passed, mother went to Montana to be with Dad. Three sons – Ernest Robert and twins Robert Lewis and Raymond Emanuel -- were born in Lewistown, Montana. A few years later, a fourth son William John was born at the Kudrna home in Clarkson. Mother had complications and nearly died. But the Czech seniors took over and doctored her back to health. During those hard years of depression, drought and economic hardship, she did not shirk her duty as wife and mother. Cooking, caring, serving, and all the home jobs were accomplished with her continuous flow of energy. Gardening was a must. Canning hundreds and hundreds of quarts of food was required to feed six healthy family members. She kept us in clothing – flour sacks made shirts and other things made pants. I will never know how she coped with the lack of facilities to do all the work. One time I came into the house and I will never forget Mother was on her hands and knees crying and scrubbing the floor. She had received a telegram that her father had passed away. She could not go home to be with her family so she was just crying and scrubbing. In 1927, the family packed up and moved to the badlands of Wyoming where a rancher needed hired help. Dad tried to homestead a section of this hostile land. It was a hopeless endeavor. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1937 was enacted to provide irrigation to areas of the West. The family migrated to the Riverton, Wyoming area where the land was irrigated and fertile. Dad and brother Ernest hand dug a cellar that was our home in the beginning. Our toil was now productive. We moved from the dugout to a shack, and then to a cabin. In 1936, Dad and Mom became involved in the lumber business. They were successful – the business grew and then, with the involvement of sons Ernest and Robert, became the Novotny Lumber Company. In the early 1940s, Mom and Dad built a beautiful log house next to the lumber yard at Kinnear, Wyoming. Mother finally had a large, sunny kitchen with all the conveniences and a lovely home that reflected her true graciousness. Grandchildren were frequent guests, savoring her kolaches, poppyseed roll, and homemade root beer. In December 1953, Dad died suddenly from cancer, undiagnosed until a week before his death. Mom carried on with life and the business. On September 12, 1956, Mom married Charles Schmuck. She again had a loving companion for her life. Mom and Charles were devoted to each other and to each other's families. Mom died on June 5, 1973. She was 78 years old. Her last years were difficult. She was afflicted with severe arthritis and then with Parkinson's Disease. She was cared for with love by Charles and her two families. Throughout her life, there was a beauty about her person that touched those around her. She was a proud woman, proud of her role as mother, immensely proud and protective of her sons. She personified the values that we carried with us throughout our lives and undoubtedly brought us whatever success we found. -- Raymond E Novotny, 2000

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