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My father Richard (Dick)Charles Bedrosky was
born on 3-18-29 in Omaha at St. Catherine’s Hospital. His father was Felix Bedrosky but went by Phil
Boyd was 23. He was born in Poland and
was a laborer when Richard was born.
Dick and Deloris my mother later cared for Phil in his last years when
they lived in West Branson. On Richard’s
baptism records his name is Richard Carolus Biodrowski. His father Felix
Biodrowski and mother Emily Hladik. (correct spelling this time). Richard’s birth certificate states his mother
was Emily Headik(spelling was wrong Hladik) and she was a housewife and was 19.
I was told that Dick spelled his name Bedrosky due to a misspelling on his
birth certificate. His father Felix
Bedrosky was listed on his birth certificate. She later married John Lucid (1906-1970) and
went by the name Emily Lucid. Richard had one brother William “Bill” Bidrowski
(1934-2009) Dick grew up at 2733 S.11th .
Richard died of Lymphoma cancer on
9-11-97. He has a grave stone site at
Evergreen in Omaha with Deloris but his ashes are in a in a columbarium
building east on the hill. Deloris had
requested his ashes be buried with her.
This did not happen at her death on 2-12-14.
Richard and Deloris were married on
7-28-51 at St. Frances Cabrini formerly St. Philomen’s in Omaha. Richard built a house for his family on A St. up from 48th on the west
side of the street. They had four children Rene Juanita(7-1-52), Nannette Kay
(3-9-54) David Richard (3-9-55 to 12-5-12), and Gary James (2-6-56) I married
Pat McQuinn 2-2-74, David married Catherine, (DeDee) Parsons 3-18-78, and Gary
married Carol Becic 6-18-94. Dick and
Deloris had five granddaughters, Angela McQuinn (3-3-77), Theresa Bedrosky (11-19-78),
Julie McQuinn (1-23-79), Rachel Bedrosky (3-21-95) and her last grandchild
Jessica Bedrosky (6-3-98).
My parents moved
to 1403 Elm in Omaha when I was in 2nd grade. They owned that house until sometime in the
late 90’s. They rented a building in the
Old Market at 1208 Howard and called the
art gallery Chezar 11. On 1-18-95 there
was a fire in Deloris’ art gallery, so they rented out the house on Elm and moved
to West Branson, MO. They rented a
building on a major intersection and called the shop Lost Silver Mine Jewelry. Then they moved to Pierce City Mo, 111 E
Commercial St. That place was called Ariels Gallery. They paid $10,000 for that building. My dad went along with my mother’s many
travels and adventures. I never heard
him complain about this new or old thing that she would do. Most things dealt with her desire to be an
artist and sell her art work. They loved
each other very much, even when yelling at each other. Yes a few times my father would sit his
coffee on the dashboard and take off meanwhile the coffee is spilled all over
my mother. I think the coffee holder was
too full of trash from their travels. My
mother was not known for her cleaning skills.
She hired me to come to her various places like the old market, Elm St
house, and the Pierce City building to clean and organize. She paid
me off in her art work. I have a great
collection that my grandkids will receive in the future.
Richard died on 9-11-97 In a Kansas City, MO VA
hospital. His death certificate lists Sepsis, over whelming penohnitis due to
lymphoma, acute renal failure. He died of cancer. We went to Pierce City in July to visit and my
dad was fine then. They had been to
Omaha for Julie’s graduation. I remember
my mom saying that she did not paint during this time due to taking care of my
dad. They did not have health insurance
and my dad would have to get his care in KC at the VA hospital. He was in the KC hospital for a short
time. I can remember making a trip or
two there to visit him. On my last trip
he did not look very good. He was very
full of fluids. We were planning on
another trip to KC on Sept. 11 but got the news that he had died. We then went to the hospital to be with the
McQuinn’s since Ross my nephew was in critical condition due to a truck
accident. Ross died later that day. He
was a senior at Millard South. Two back
to back funerals that following week is something I never want to repeat.
Deloris
lived in Pierce City until her stroke in the winter of 2000 and went to a
nursing home in Springfield, Mo. She was
moved to Douglas County Care Center in Omaha 4/2001 and lived there until her
death on 2-12-14.
My dad was in the army during the early 50’s . He was on leave for their marriage on 7-28-
51 and he was in Germany when I was born 7-1-52. He was home for my sister’s birth in March of
54. He was in an Army picture dated Oct
1951. CO G 109 inf. Rect-28 Division,
camp Atterbury, Indiana Oct. 1951 is what is on the photo. I did find out that the 28th
Infantry Division was ordered into active federal service Sept. 5 1950
following the outbreak of the Korean War.
The Division re-opened the mothballed Camp Atterbury, Indiana and
remained there from Sept 13, 1950 to Nov 23,1951. It was sent to Germany to augment NATO forces
in Germany. During the Korean War, the
28th was mobilized and deployed to Europe as a part of the NATO
command defending Western Europe from the threat of Soviet attack and remained
on federal service until May 22, 1954. Info from Wikipedia.org.
It sounds like my parents married due to the
fact that my dad was being sent to Germany.
My dad would talk about returning to Germany someday but never did. He did attend the reunions that his company
had. He communicated by mail with those
in Germany that raised pigeons like he did. I remember him trying to find
someone to translate his letters written in German. I think that was his tie to Germany and why he
loved pigeons so much. I still have two
of the treasures that he brought back from Germany. One is my birth necklace a ruby set in
silver. Later I found out it was not a
real ruby. I also have in my living room
a pair of white pigeons. Can’t believe
they have not broken throughout all the years of babysitting kids, my children,
grandchildren, and Pat.
My dad could build and fix most things. He was a self-employed carpenter contractor. In his younger years, he worked for Burlington Railroad as a mailbag handler. Not sure how many years he did that. My memories are my dad working as a carpenter. He built our first home on A St., rebuild the one on Elm St, that one had an outhouse when we first moved in, and repaired and remolded their home in Pierce City. My dad had a lot of various carpenter jobs. When he worked for older ladies, he would come home with meals that they had cooked for his family. He did work on Packers National bank that was on 24th St in downtown South Omaha. That job provided a steady income coming in. He also worked for a convent for nuns that could not leave or talk with the outside world. My dad could also do plumbing, electrical, framing, drywall, design, and other things. He was not a fast worker because a job had to be just right or it was redone. My mother called him a perfectionist. It took him forever to finish the house on Elm, my mother would complain. He was tired from doing others remodeling work. So he did not have time to do the work around the house that my mother wanted him to do. We lived with studs for walls until he had time to cover with drywall. It may have been years living like that. I still have a huge gray dresser that he built in my basement that holds all the things that I am saving that I do not need to save. Jocelyn loves going down and looking through the drawers for craft projects that she can make.
My dad did not graduate from high
school. I don’t ever remember him
talking about school. He did attend
St.Wenceslasus School for grade school.
I have a picture of him in a class photo with a cap and gown on. It could have been an 8th grade
graduation picture but the students look like teens. The picture is not dated. My dad was not the school/book type. He was of that generation that learned a
trade and worked with their hands. He was of the generation that served their
country and provided for their family with hard work.
We never took vacations, but would go out
to my great aunt’s cabin which was along a river south of Omaha which I think
was the Platte. We called her Auntie. He enjoyed going there for some R&R. I don’t remember him fishing but just sitting
around with his family and of course eating.
My dad loved his steaks and potatoes.
Not a pasta kind of guy, but did love the pork, dumplings and sauerkraut
that his mom would make every weekend for him, along with sweets treats of all
kinds. We kids would take turns walking
to my grandma’s to pickup our Sat. meals and then helping ourselves to the
sweet treats along the way. We already
had treats while visiting with Grandma Em as we called her. I loved the apricot
kolaches the best along with the red velvet cake with the best frosting
ever. No canned frosting for my
Grandma. I know they did not have that
nasty frosting back in the day.
My dad had a stroke after I left home and
was married. I can’t remember the year
but it was sometime in the mid 70’s. He
was in the VA hospital for awhile. The
stroke left one side of his body weaker than the other. His speech was also affected and had a hard
time expressing his thoughts. He also
would lose his temper with my mother. He
had his stroke while working on a roof job with one of my brothers. He often took them on jobs with him, and they
learned various job skills from him. Yes
strokes run in my family. My dad,
mother, brother, and myself all have had major strokes. I really think our bodies can’t handle the
processed foods, salt and sugar that causes the high blood pressure. When I eat right and exercise the blood
pressure is normal.
For many years my dad drove a cargo type
van that was covered with candy pictures because the previous owner had been a
candy salesman. He got tired of the pictures and children asking for candy, so he
problem solved and covered up the pictures with spray paint. In his later years he had a blue pickup truck
with a camper shell until his death. I
only remember him owning those two work vehicles. My parents would travel and then sleep in the
back on a mattress.
My dad loved living in MO and traveling
the Ozark area. He walked his dog
Feathers every night around the block in Pierce City. He raised fancy pigeons and showed them at
fairs, or sold them. He built a huge
pigeon pen on Elm Street, and had a little one in Pierce City. He enjoyed
visiting and communicating with other pigeon breeders. He enjoyed reading pigeon magazines and
showing them. Feathers was a black and white Shih Tzu and
before that he had Jenny a cream colored dog that had belonged to his father
Phil. When he lived on Elm Street he had
a dog called Mookie that was a black Pekingese and a large dog named
Rolly.
He and my mother would come to Omaha and
stay for awhile in my basement. They
loved visiting with the grandchildren and watching them grow up. The grandkids
came to visit MO on holidays and in the summer. The Pierce City building only had a window
air conditioner and ceiling fans to stay cool during the hot summer weather in
MO. Dick kept busy working on various
remolding projects on the building in Pierce City. He and Kent Anderson ( kind of a foster brother) remodeled the 1st
floor into an art gallery for Deloris.
She did her painting down there and sold things such as jewelry,
crystals, books, and art work. The
building was on main street with a grocery store next door, and an art gallery
across the street with antique stores up and down the street.
My dad and mother was what I call hoarders. He collected construction items for future
projects and had so many tools and other things. He would haul home old things from a thrift
store that the store did not want. When
I and my daughter Julie closed down the building we found many vacuum cleaners
and phones. Not sure if he thought he
could fix them, or use them. We had an
estate sale and gave away many items. We
also made trips during the night to the local thrift store to drop off my
parent’s treasures. We saved and stored
household items for my mother for when she got better after her first stoke in
2000. She never did need the items,
since she lived in a nursing home until her death. The building in Pierce City is no longer
standing. A tornado struck it later
after we moved her to Omaha. Their house
on Elm St is no longer there. Eating
places, gas stations are on that area now. My Grandma Em's place is still standing on 11th St. My brother Gary and his family live there. They do not have to use an outhouse or bucket in the house like my grandma did. I did not have any sleep overs at my grandma's due to maybe that fact of having to use an outhouse.
I
could look out my bedroom window and see the stadium lights on during the
summer months and hear the games being called.
Late at night I might even hear a roar of a lion calling out, “build
this Riverview park zoo into a world class top zoo, please.” This area of south Omaha was a great place to
grow up in. We had many places to walk to and visit and hang out in back in the
day. We had fields to play and roam in. In the later teen years we ever had a dump to
explore in. We called it a dump, but the
city called it a landfill that kept getting closer and closer to the
backyard. My brothers got very good with
guns and could shoot and kill as many rats that they wanted. I remember the dump catching fire one year
and it burned and burned for months. I remember
one of my brothers telling the story that they thought that dad started the
fire because he was so mad about the dump.
Back then we could burn our trash in a barrel in our back yard, so maybe
it was true.
Yes, I had a great childhood due to a
loving dad and mother, and other family members. My dad was not the kind of dad that would say
“ I love you.” But then, I was not the
daughter that said it either, when I was younger. We knew that he did love us and would do
everything in his power to provide food, clothing, and shelter for his
family. We did not need vacations, RV’s,
trips to Disney Land, allowances for spending money, eating out, movies, more
than one black and white tv, no video games back then or I would have said
that. Or the many other ways that parents spoil their children with now
days. We did have a father’s love.
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