Wilma Kurylas

Wilma A. Kurylas

RAPID CITY | Wilma Ann Kurylas, 91, went to Heaven on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 at Monument Health Home Plus Hospice in Rapid City.

Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m., with recitation of the Rosary at 7 p.m. today at Blessed Sacrament Church.

A Christian Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, at the church, with Fr. Adam Hofer presiding. Interment will follow at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

Online condolences can be left at osheimschmidt.com

I was born in Custer, South Dakota on October 2, 1928 to Charles and Vilma Bradsky. The second of five children, my brother Charles, is older by a year and a half. Albina, my sister, followed shortly after me. Walter, my brother is 8 years younger than me and Florence, the youngest is 12 years my junior.

We were a happy family. Both of my parents immigrated from Czechoslovakia. We were all hardworking. My parents were very strict, demanding only the best from us. However, they were fair and very honest, each born into the Catholic Religion. Thus, we all attended Catholic schools and reared in the fear of God who loved and took care of us.

I was a good student, getting mostly A's, sometimes hard earned as my parents expected only the best. Even one point lower in grades would cause any of us a lot of turmoil. We were required to do our best. There was no other choice. We were made to do so. Catholic schools, at the time did little to socially prepare any to the life we were to live after school, and I realized this soon after graduation.

My Father, a wonderful capable person, very business oriented, was truly the "BOSS" of our home. He was a grinding force in our lives. My mother, who had originally been a Professor in Education when living in Czechoslovakia, also was subjected and subservient to Daddy's decisions and wishes. All of us were. Most were acceptable and fair, but we had little say so. My mother had none. My father not only fostered his lands and ranches but cultivated and grew many businesses within Rapid City.

I was my Fathers right-hand during the war years after graduating from high school. I was instrumental in managing all his bookwork. I, thus, grew up knowing that he was a great and wonderful businessperson, for I was witness to his integrity, honesty, and natural goodness. He was, however, a disciplinarian who worked as hard as he demanded from others.

Having been born into a "patriarchal" society, he brought those beliefs to America. He always said, No one cares for your sorrows or distress. In this world, you always put on a smile no matter how much it hurts you before you go out into society". There was no abuse of any kind within our home, but obedience was paramount. We all had to work before school or play, study before any kind of personal relaxation, such was reading for me. We were extremely devout in our Catholic Faith, including and doing much for all the Priests and Sisters. One Christmas, all of us, except Daddy, plucked and made ready around 20 geese: all gifts for Priests and Nuns.

We lived, at first, in town, having moved to Rapid City. In a few years, we moved to a 40-acre plot of land east of the School of Mines where some of our family still reside today. We developed a small farm there, later; in part, to be sold to our Rapid City Fair Grounds.

My Mother was sickly in the early years while living in Custer, but she became strong and healthier once we moved to our farm. She said it was being outdoors, cultivating the land, and tending to all our livestock.

We never knew our Grandparents or relatives since they all lived in the "old country" in Czechoslovakia, until 1948, after the war. Daddy took us on board the Queen Mary and then the Queen Elizabeth travelling to the "homeland" where we all then began to understand our background and heritage. It was much easier to appreciate our Daddy's work ethics, understand a patriarchal society, and develop our own individual personal gratitude for what America granted my parents. Unfortunately, by the time the war ended, our Grandparents had all died.

Yes, everything was good and now falling into place in my mind. I understood my Daddy, his Love for my mother and why it was acceptable to her as Daddy's subordinate. That was the " Old Country" way. That is how their society was when they were growing up and that is how they would raise their children too. We all accepted this reality and life was good.

My teen years were basically nonexistent. I never really got to go out much until I was in my early 20's. First, dates or rather group get togethers were only allowed providing my brother, Charles was there as a chaperone to watch me closely at dances, hayrides, church social parties. My parents imbedded within all of us that marriage was forever and thus, none of us were ever allowed to form or maintain any kind of romantic or lasting relationship until "Mr. Right" came along and had been fully vetted and approved by my Daddy. Thus, I was basically an introvert, but outwardly, I was rather popular back then as I could have fun with my friends, although innocent. I could not ever imagine doing anything to injure, go against, or hurt my family's beliefs on how to conduct myself in public as a lady. Our values, our beliefs were one and the same.

I met my "Mr. Right" when I was 21. Roman Kurylas, by then a veterinarian. He had also immigrated to America with his brother Stephan after the war, after surviving the German Holocaust while in the concentration camps, and after graduating from a college in Munich, Germany with a Doctorate in Medicine. Roman had been raised in Ukraine, one of 17 children, from parents who farmed and his father who had become a Catholic Priest. In Ukraine, the Catholic Church there was the only Catholic faith that allowed marriage. At the age of 15, Roman was sent to a monastery with his two older brothers for two years before the war. However, they all left to fight for and to secure Ukraine's freedom believing they would return to a monastic life once the war was over. This, of course, was not to be, for life found my future husband, Roman, immigrating to America as a refugee from Germany and the concentration camps. Roman was, however, raised with many of the same similarities, customs, and beliefs as my family had. my Daddy was ecstatic for because of their similar customs and beliefs they became fast trusted friends who felt comfort with the other. An affinity, I suppose both having been raised in the "old country".

It was a friendly courtship. Roman worked as a Veterinarian at the meat packing plant in Madison, South Dakota so I was not able to spend a lot of time with him then. We married when I was 24 years old, August 22, 1954. Roman had passed all of Daddy's requirements and found suitable to become my husband.

Our lives, in many ways mirrored my own upbringing. We worked hard together in business and play. We remained devout in our Catholic Faith. We were blessed with five beautiful children: Teresa, Jerry, Steve, Roxane " Meeka", and Carolyn. Together, we worked Roman's veterinary practices while managing, then purchasing Imperial Hotel; an endeavor which eventually grew to 150 rooms, expanding the whole block. Our life afforded us the rare opportunity to give a lot of sustenance to our respective families in Czechoslovakia and Ukraine. We were indeed fortunate, but we worked very hard for everything God enabled us to give back.

I join in Heaven now, my dear husband Dr. Roman Kurylas, our son Gerald, " Jerry" Kurylas, Rapid City, South Dakota; our grandson, Steven Kurylas; Riva, Maryland; my parents, Charles and Vilma Bradsky; my brother Charles and his wife Nancy Bradsky, and their son Patrick; my sister Albina and her husband Chuck Kulpaca; all from Rapid City and their son-in-law Greg McNeal; Houston, Texas; my brother Walter and his wife Betty Bradsky; Rapid City, many of my aunts and uncles from Billings, Montana; my husband Roman's parents, Father and Mrs. Kurylas; many of Roman's 17 brothers and sisters in Ukraine; and Roman's brother Stephan and Olga Kurylas from Silver Springs, Maryland.

I am survived by my children Dr. Teresa Kurylas, Rapid City, South Dakota; Dr. Stephan Kurylas and granddaughter Andrea Kurylas, Riva, Maryland; Roxane " Meeka" Kurylas Nader, husband Ed, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Meeka's children, Adriana and Kristen Torres, Denver, Colorado; Dr. Carolyn Kurylas, Phoenix, Arizona, and her children Shelby Roy, Flagstaff, Arizona; and Cayla Roy, Houston, Texas; my sister Florence and her husband Don Skinner; Rapid City, the myriad of my Bradsky, Kulpaca, Skinner nieces and nephews, and their respective husbands and wives; and of course, all of their respective children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren most of whom still reside in Rapid City.

I request all gifts to be forwarded to Terra Sancta, Blessed Sacrament Church, or to the Catholic Daughters of America.

Amen