Karnes Co. TX - NEWS - July 2004 This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Kimm Antell Copyright. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************ July 1, 2004 Celebration begins with kids parade Karnes County sesquicentennial continues this weekend LOUISE POPPLEWELL Victoria Advocate RUNGE - Karnes County's yearlong sesquicentennial celebration continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a Fourth of July celebration in Runge. The activities begin at 6 p.m. Friday with a kiddy and pet parade at City Park. Opening ceremonies will follow at the old VFW hall. Karnes County Judge Alger Kendall, former county Judge Robert Thonhoff and Mayor Homer Lott will be guest speakers with former Mayor Jack Roberson serving as master of ceremonies. Entertainment for the opening ceremony will be provided by the Goliad Folklorico Ballet Dancer, the Marachi Trio and Nina Marino of Beeville. With 60 participants signed up for Saturday's 10 a.m. parade, organizers are hoping it doesn't rain on their parade. Saturday and Sunday's activities will be held at the new VFW Post 9189 on Aransas Street. The Runge Yellowjacket Drum Corp will swing into action from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by Chris Rybak from 1 to 3 p.m. The Runge Rock of Salvation Choir will also perform in the afternoon. Barbecue plates with all the trimmings will be available from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Activities planned for the afternoon include kiddy train rides, a volleyball tournament, washer and horseshoe pitching rivalries, raffle ticket sales and a silent auction. The day's activities will wind down with an evening dance featuring music by the Taylor Brothers. A non-denominational church service will be held from 10 a.m. until noon Sunday at the VFW hall on Aransas Street. The history of Runge will be presented at 1 p.m., followed by a 3 to 7 p.m. performance by Leo Majek and his polka band. An old-timers' baseball game, batting contest and raffle drawing are included in events scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The weekend celebration will conclude with a fireworks display at dusk. Arts and crafts and food booths will be open throughout the weekend. Louise Popplewell is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361- 552-2803 or lpopple@txcr.net. July 3, 2004 Runge's July 4 celebrations part of Karnes County sesquicentennial RUNGE - Karnes County's yearlong sesquicentennial celebration continues today and Sunday with a Fourth of July celebration in Runge. Opening ceremonies were Friday. Today's and Sunday's events will be at the VFW Post 9189 on Aransas Street. Today's parade begins at 10 a.m. Sixty participants are signed up for it. After that, the Runge Yellowjacket Drum Corp will swing into action from 12:30 to 1 p.m., followed by Chris Rybak from 1 to 3 p.m. Barbecue plates with all the trimmings will be available from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Runge Rock of Salvation Choir will perform in the afternoon. Other activities planned for the afternoon include kiddy train rides, a volleyball tournament, washer and horseshoe pitching rivalries, raffle ticket sales and a silent auction. The day's activities will wind down with an evening dance featuring music by the Taylor Brothers. On Sunday, a nondenominational church service is planned from 10 a.m. until noon Sunday at the VFW hall. The history of Runge will be presented at 1 p.m., followed by a 3 to 7 p.m. performance by Leo Majek and his polka band. An old-timers' baseball game, batting contest and raffle drawing are scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The weekend celebration will conclude with a fireworks display at dusk. Arts and crafts and food booths will be open throughout the weekend. July 4, 2004 Goliad man killed in rollover RUNGE - A Goliad man was killed in a one-vehicle rollover Thursday morning. According to a Department of Public Safety report, Romaldo Ray Camacho, 36, was driving south about 6:20 a.m. in a 2002 Dodge pickup on Farm-to-Market Road 81 two miles south of Runge. He went into a right-hand curve, left the right side of the road in a side skid and overturned, ejecting him. The road was wet and conditions were foggy. He was declared dead on the scene at 7 a.m., by Karnes County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Gilbert Garza. Camacho was an offshore driller. July 27, 2004 Family ties strong in Polish community BECKY COOPER Victoria Advocate PANNA MARIA - Adrian Lyssy didn't mind driving almost 53 miles to work in San Antonio for 20 years, then 53 miles back home every day, because he was doing it for his family. Each morning, he would leave his home in Panna Maria by 4:30 a.m. to make the long commute, because he and his wife wanted to give their kids a good education in a small school district in neighboring Karnes City and to give them the close family culture he had grown up with in Panna Maria. It was about 25 years ago that the Lyssy family moved from San Antonio to the farm that had been in his father's family for 150 years, since the first settlement of the oldest Polish community in the United States. "We moved back on account of the kids and the peace and quiet. We don't have to lock our house here," Lyssy said. The farm is south of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, which sits in downtown Panna Maria where the original Polish immigrants spent their first Christmas Eve in the new country. Lyssy, who retired as a postal carrier for the U.S. Postal Service about four years ago, isn't the only Panna Maria native who moved back for his family and commuted to work. Other families are choosing to come back to the small community so their children can have the closeness of the small town Polish family that they grew up knowing and that remains alive in the community today. "Family is very important to us, and being back home is a very comfortable feeling," said Lynette Perkins, a native of Panna Maria who daily travels 70 miles one way to Victoria. She carpools with her husband, Billy Perkins, who also works in Victoria. She works at the surgery center while he works for First Capital Bank. They lived in Victoria for 21 years, but decided to move to Panna Maria because their son Derick wanted a small school environment. He recently graduated from Karnes City High School, as both of his parents did years before. Perkins said she and her siblings were raised with a strong sense of family, which spread beyond their home into the community. And she likes being able to raise her children in a similar setting. The church, which is built near the large oak tree where the original Polish settlers spent their first Christmas Eve in 1854, is a huge part of the community. It is where everyone meets and visits, Perkins said. After Mass, parishioners hang around and visit with one another. "The young mingle with the older people. The older ones know who you are and they ask about how you are doing," she said. But this is a tradition that has been going on for many years because Perkins can remember being the child and talking with the older members, many of whom are now deceased. "We are fortunate that more young people, once they start raising a family, want to live in the country and choose to commute to their jobs," said Loretta Niestroy, Perkins' mother, also a Panna Maria native. The town is small and just about everyone is related to their neighbor in one way or another. Just about all can trace their family back to one of the original families who settled there 150 years ago. In its prime, the town was home to several hundred families over the years, but many moved off. Now there are about 30 to 35 residents in the community, but the church community, which includes the outlying rural area, has about 98 families with about 200 members. Gayle Olenick of San Antonio, who married a man of Polish descent, has conducted genealogy research of the Polish migration over the years. As of June 30, she had documented 84,000 family names in the United States who have direct ties to the original 100 families who settled the community in 1854. Her research is an example of how strong an influence famlily is in the area. "Family loyalty is very strong. That is the way we grew up here and it has stayed that way," Niestroy said. She said the only industry in Panna Maria is farming and that doesn't pay enough to support a growing family, so the residents have to commute to work. Most of the farms are still in the original families who first farmed them. "We want to hang onto mom and dad's place or great grandpa's place," Niestroy said. She and her four brothers have a partnership for her family's farm. Elaine Moczygemba returned to Panna Maria in 1995 after a 25-year career in the Navy to help her brother Kenneth Moczygemba of LaVernia with their family's farm, located about 3 1/2 miles west of town. Although she owns a house in town, across from the church, she considers the 200-acre farm home, working there daily. Relatives farm around them. Standing on the farm, she can identify all the passing trucks that travel the dirt road in front of her place. "That's my first cousin," she pointed out as a truck passed by her gate. A few minutes later another truck passed, driven by her second cousin - all have the Moczygemba family name. Moczygemba thought she would only be in the area a couple of years and then move on, but she is still there and is ever so active in the community as a volunteer. "There is so much volunteer work that needs to be done," she said as she sat in the Panna Maria Visitor's Center that serves as a meeting place for visitors as well as local folks. She is the president of the Panna Maria Historical Society, is one of three organists for the church, and teaches Polish dancing at a San Antonio college, to name a few of her duties. The visitor's center is the hub of activity for the locals - this is where they know to make donations to help with funeral meals, wedding showers, or to help with someone's medical bills. Moczygemba said they know if money is being collected for a special cause that there will be a jar or glass on the table at the center. The priest will usually make the announcement at church or place the announcement in the bulletin letting the residents know who is in need and who is in charge of collecting the money. A similar method is used when collecting money to buy the turkeys for the annual homecoming turkey dinner held on the second Sunday of each October. Thousands of people gather in the town that weekend, helping to cook, serve and eat the turkey meals. Many are former residents, many have never lived there but are friends of residents and join in to help out. "It is a lot of hard work but it is amazing to watch how everyone works together," said Perkins. She said a lot of her friends come and help serve. Last October, only 2,918 meals were served, but it was raining. The year before that set the record for number of plates served - 3,117. Generations of families work side by side making sure everyone gets plenty to eat. "My granddaughters come in from San Marcos to help out. They enjoy it here. They love the food," said Elizabeth Kopecki, a volunteer at the visitors center. To make sure all flows well, work begins on Friday soaking the bread for the dressing, then on Saturday the women are busy making the dressing while the men cut the turkeys and put them on the pit, Kopecki said. On Sunday, there are six serving lines. Live music and an auction are also part of the festivities. Niestroy said while they serve around 3,000 meals, there are more people than that in town that day because some come just for the auction. The residents are proud of their home, but they are afraid of losing parts of the culture as older residents die. "I'm not sure we can keep our language going," Niestroy said. "I'm probably in the last generation to speak Polish and I'm 67. My grandpa spoke Polish." She said her two older children spoke Polish but have lost the language as they moved on to other places to live. She said one of her younger grandchildren is interested in learning the language. Perkins said she has retained a few Polish words she learned growing up. Kopecki, 79, said she and her friends speak Polish all the time because they grew up speaking the language. She learned to speak English in about the second grade. "I still talk to my children in Polish and they understand," she said in a thick Silesian dialect. To help keep the language and culture alive, on the first Sunday of the month parishioners sing hymns in Polish. There is also a community Polish choir made up of members from throughout the county. Niestroy said the church is the mainstay of the community and the fact that they have Polish priests assigned to the parish has helped keep the community going. Niestroy, who is also the church secretary, said the community adopts the priests even though they usually only stay about three years. They are usually in the early 30s, are "very much Polish in all their beliefs" and are active in the community. The church, which was built in 1878 and last renovated in 2000, is full of Polish symbols and statues and paintings on the ceiling. The stained-glass windows bear the names of long-time families: Mika, Janysek, Dzuik, Pilarczyk, Dworaczyk. One side of the altar is dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland, while the other side is dedicated to St. Ann, mother of the Virgin Mary. Three hand-carved chairs, used by Pope John Paul II during his visit to San Antonio in 1987, are also on the altar. At the entrance of the church is a large painting of St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr, which was brought from Poland in 1858. Residents are working to bring tourism to Panna Maria and Karnes County to bolster the county's economy as well as to tell their story in American history. This year is a year-long celebration of the county's sesquicentennial. It started in February with a celebration in Helena and will end in December with a celebration in Panna Maria. In between, each time a town or community holds its annual event, such as Runge's July Fourth celebration or Kenedy's Bluebonnet Days. The county's birthday is also celebrated. "Once this year is over we will get started pushing tourism harder," Niestroy said. "We have a lot to offer - hunting, wildflowers, birding and history." The guest registries at the visitors center and the church show that tourists have already started discovering the community. They list addresses from throughout the United States as well as from Poland, China, Australia and South Africa. Work is under way to preserve as much of the history as possible - Snoga's Store, which houses the small post office and a site of small social gatherings; St. Joseph School; the convent; and the Pilarczyk Sore where the visitors center is located. The historical society is working on grants to help with the restorations and to promote the town. Work has begun to make the old St. Joseph school, the oldest private Polish school in the U.S. into a museum. Kopecki remembered attending the school, which became a public school around 1934 and closed in 1938 or 39. Plans also call for making the upstairs of the school - where the nuns once lived - into a research center. Niestroy said college students and people doing family genealogy work visit the visitors center, but it is so crowded it is hard for them as well as the local historians to do work there. The convent has been converted into a bed and breakfast and is used quite often, she said. There is also interest in preserving some of the original homes, but that is not as easy because they belong to private families. Residents say there is a lot of work to be done to preserve their cultures, and in keeping with the commitment of the residents the work will be done. "We were taught that it takes a lot of hard work to succeed and that's what we teach our children," Perkins said. "You have to work hard to get what you want in life." Becky Cooper is regional editor for the Advocate. Contact her at 361- 574-1285 or bcooper@vicad.com