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John Hudecek

John Hudecek's family arrived at Ellis Island on Christmas Eve, 1937. The family emigrated from the Moravia province of Czechoslovakia and arrived in the United States unable to speak a word of English. His parents came at the invitation of a relative to help on a farm, and settled in northeast Iowa. After attending the University of Iowa and teaching high school and junior high in Iowa, he learned about a grant available to teach Russian in Columbus, and moved in 1963 to teach at Columbus High School. He retired about 10 years ago.

Through conversations with his parents, he learned his home area was similar to Columbus in some ways, in that it was rural and agriculture was important to the economy. But in Czechoslovakia, people lived in villages and farmed on parcels of land outside of the village. It was "a difficult life," he said, farming with horses and by hand. But the Czechs were more advanced than some western nations in their agricultural techniques, including the use of fertilizers. During the 1930s and 40s, traditional clothing was so distinctive that one could determine a Czech's village by the type of clothing worn. Colorful, hand-stitched clothing was unique to each area of the nation.

In Iowa, John's family lived in a Czech-speaking neighborhood, but still experienced language difficulties. His mother sometimes had trouble communicating items she wanted to buy from grocery stores, for example, and his father was reluctant to speak in public because once he was mocked for the way he talked. This embarrassment led to John's father taking one of his four young sons with him to do the negotiating when he bought farm equipment. But he said the family never faced real discrimination because of their heritage.

He said he could tell immediately upon moving to Columbus that it would be a good place to raise a family, and one of his most rewarding experiences here has been to take a group of language students on a tour of the Soviet Union.

John belongs to the Czech-Slovak Society in Indianapolis, and has helped with booths and floats during Columbus' Ethnic Expo. He and his wife have four grown children.