Dorchester Times: Rural Dorchester's Vera Jean Havlat Passes May 25

Monday, May 27, 2024

Rural Dorchester's Vera Jean Havlat Passes May 25

Vera Jean Havlat, daughter of Lad and Selma (Reichel) Vosika, was born in Lincoln on Aug. 11, 1933. She passed away peacefully on May 25, 2024 in Crete.

Vera attended Saratoga Elementary School, Irving Junior School, and Lincoln High School. She met Robert Havlat at a dance in Emerald. They were married on February 12, 1951. Vera spent her married life helping with the farming and all that it entailed. She loved to garden and can. She enjoyed cooking and baking for her family.

Vera was a faithful member of the Methodist Church and received recognition for 75 years of membership. She spent many years in extension clubs and helping with 4-H. She enjoyed traveling and taking many bus trips around the U.S. In her later years, Vera loved water aerobics and making many new friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, son, Steve, parents, brother, Howard and many brothers and sisters in law. Vera is survived by her sons and daughters in law: Robert Jr. and Sandy of Crete, Wayne and Cindy of Dorchester, daughters and son in law: Kathleen Bernadt of Lincoln, Lori and Mike Schmidt of Lincoln, family friend, Linda Lorenz, grandchildren: Travis Havlat and significant other Ariel Filkens, Cara and Sean McCoy, Melissa Bernadt, Jennifer and Chris Saathoff, Crystal and Adam Schaecher, Alicia and Bill Vrtiska, Suzie and Cody Williamson, Nick and Dawn Havlat, Joe and Samantha Havlat, Ashton Kotas, Spencer Kotas, Max and Rebecca Schmidt, John Schmidt, 17 great grandchildren, brother in law, Don Shandera, sister in law, Delores Havlat, and nieces and nephews.

Services will be held on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. at Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 5 - 7 p.m. at the funeral home.

Memorials are in care of the family for future designation in lieu of flowers. Arrangements entrusted to Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete. See the online obituary.

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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."