Oh, if only these walls could speak - Czechoslovak Society of Arts ...

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Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003 remained in service for about 12 years. It was replaced by a larger facility in 1873. This school was then enlarged in 1885. A new public school was erected in 1903. In 1870, the parishioners of St. Wenceslaus parish constructed the community’s first parochial school, the underlying subject of this paper. This building would be constructed on part of the ten acres of land deeded to the parish by Roman Expelier and his wife in December of 1859. The parishioners would construct two more parochial schools on this land, one in 1900, which would be razed in 1954, and one in 1953. And so the story of the 1870 parochial school building can now begin. 1868 to 1893 – John Joseph (J. J.) Kovarik As previously stated, upon the departure of Martin Bouska in 1866, Spillville’s Bohemian speaking children relied on the public schools for their education. In April 1868 a more “satisfactory” education process for the Czech Catholic citizens and children of Spillville would present itself when an 18 year old John J. Kovarik completed his voyage from Vsetec, Bohemia with his arrival in Spillville. He would immediately become involved in St. Wenceslaus parish life, becoming the church organist and the teacher in the parish school. He would serve as the parish teacher for nearly a quarter of a century. J. J. Kovarik settled with his parents on a farm about two miles west of Spillville. Since the parish had no school building in 1868, classes were originally held in the parish rectory. Space limitations were a problem there, and so during the winter of 1869 – 1870, Kovarik taught the children in a room above a saloon owned by Thomas Dvorak. In 1870, John married Elizabeth Riha. It was also in 1870 that a substantial parochial school building was constructed. There was one large classroom on the ground floor, and the remainder of the building was used as living quarters for the Kovariks. The Kovarik’s would have seven children; six would reach adulthood. The first born, Joseph John Kovarik, born in 1871, would in later years be instrumental in bringing Antonin Dvorak to Spillville. As a teacher, Mr. Kovarik had the distinct advantage over his contemporaries in the township schools of being able to instruct in all three of the languages spoken by his pupils; Czech, German and English. In a letter dated December 3, 1971, J. J.’s daughter, Anna Mary Kovarik, wrote: “In his records dad states that the average number of pupils in the school was 60 and during the winter season (added – when the children were not needed on the farm for planting or harvest) the number increased to 110. With this in mind, and knowing that the ages of the children varied from 6 to 12 or older and that the teaching had to be done in three languages, the English, Bohemian and German, one realizes what an enormous task this was.” - 2 -
Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003 The curriculum was restricted to the basics, but the children were not short changed. Kovarik worked hard to give his pupils more than a cursory education and his list of exceptional students who would go on to prominent positions is a long one. Notable are: • The Very Reverend Prokopius Neuzil: He became a teacher, then a priest and at age 26 founded St. Prokopius College in Lisle, Illinois. He later helped to establish the Benedictine Abbey Press. He also served as Abbot of the Abbey. • Dr. Alois F. Kovarik: He continued his education, earning a doctorate in physics at the University of Minnesota and later became a Professor of Nuclear Physics at Yale University. During World War I, he was a member of an important federal government panel studying counter-measures against German submarines. Dr. Kovarik also participated on the Manhattan Project during World War II. The significant product of this effort was the atomic bomb. • James S. Mikesh became an author and theologian who taught at Yale and at Harvard. In 1893 J.J. Kovarik gave up his teaching post to devote more time to his music. He moved to New Prague, Minnesota in 1899 where he continued his music career as a music teacher, orchestra leader and choirmaster. John J. Kovarik died in 1939 at age 89 in New Prague, MN. In a New Prague newspaper article written by Frances Boardman and published shortly after Kovarik’s death, Boardman stated that Kovarik “… left behind him the deathless results of an influence immeasurably good and honest and wise and kind. Among his children and grandchildren and other relatives are names that figure importantly in the American world of music and science.” 1871 to 1894 – Joseph John Kovarik One very notable pupil of John J. Kovarik was his son Joseph. John’s true love was music, in which he instructed his family thoroughly. With a solid foundation in music learned from his father, at age 13, Joseph went on to attend music school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At age 18 Joseph began his studies at the Prague Conservatory of Music in Prague, Bohemia. Joseph was a member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for 41 years. He was also a violin and viola instructor at the National Conservatory of Music in New York City and at the New York College of Music in New York City. The Russian conductor Vasili Safanov declared that Joseph Kovarik was the best violist he had ever heard. Without question, one of the most important facets of Joseph’s life had to be his relationship with Antonin Dvorak. It was while he was at the Conservatory in Prague that he met and became a close friend and companion of Dvorak, the famous Czech composer. The momentous event took place one day in 1892 while Kovarik was reading an American paper in a Prague music store. Dvorak entered the store, and, seeing that Kovarik was reading an American paper, asked if he were American. Upon learning that he was, Dvorak asked if Kovarik would consider accompanying him to America where he was to take charge of the New York Conservatory of Music. Kovarik agreed and later became Dvorak’s close friend, traveling companion and personal secretary in America. - 3 -
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Oh, if only these walls could speak - Czechoslovak Society of Arts ...

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