Dorchester Times: Pleasant Hill's Joan Cerny, Brian Mariska Pass Away

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Pleasant Hill's Joan Cerny, Brian Mariska Pass Away

Joan Cerny of Pleasant Hill went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, June 17, 2017. She was 85. Joan was born on February 17, 1932 to Perry Elmer and Iva Garriott in Benton County, Indiana, one of 12 children. She was a high school graduate and worked at a livestock show place in Lafayette where she met Warren Cerny of Crete, Nebraska who raised and showed Yorkshire hogs and was a member of the Yorkshire Club. Joan and Warren were married in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on June 14, 1958. To this union were born 4 children, Marc, Jon, Lisa, and Patrick. They lived their entire married life on a farm near Pleasant Hill. Warren passed on Nov. 29, 2010. Joan is survived by her children, Marc Cerny of Crete, Jon (Carol) Cerny of Bancroft, NE., Lisa (Lee) Krasser of Crete, Pat (Cindy) Cerny of Lincoln, 10 grandchildren and 5 siblings.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 22, 2017 at Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete. Visitation will be tonight from 5-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be at Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Memorials to the Dorchester United Methodist Church or the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Department. See the obituary online here.

Also passing away recently was Brian L. Mariska, a Pleasant Hill native born on June 7, 1944 to Robert L. Mariska and Leonore (Fritz) Mariska. After much suffering and pain these last few years, mostly due to multiple sclerosis, he joined his family and friends in Heaven on June 15, 2017. Brian grew up in Pleasant Hill and graduated from Wilber High School in 1962. He earned a Bachelor's degree in biosystems management in the agricultural engineering department and a Master's degree in economics from UNL and had a successful career in state government. He is survived by his wife, Sharon of Lincoln; father, Bob Mariska of Crete; and others. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today, June 21, at Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln. Condolences may be left at kunclfh.com.

1 comment:

AnonymousJune 21, 2017 at 1:47 PM
Two good people who will be greatly missed. Sympathy to their families and friends.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."