Dorchester Times: Virginia Krivohlavek Celebration of Life, Feb. 28

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Virginia Krivohlavek Celebration of Life, Feb. 28

As previously reported, longtime Dorchester resident Virginia Krivohlavek passed at age 90 earlier this month.

A celebration-of-life ceremony will be held Friday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Dorchester American Legion, Post 264. Supper will be served.

Below is Virginia's obituary.

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Virginia Maxine Krivohlavek was born on December 11, 1934, to Gladys (Culp) and Herbert McCormick in Fisher, Illinois. She grew up around Gibson City, Illinois and loved helping her dad at his roadside market, selling produce, Christmas trees and ceramics. She graduated from high school in 1953. When she moved to Nebraska several years later, her family settled in Waverly, and she raised SueAnn, Ruth and Keith while their father worked out of state. During this time, she worked for Pat Ash Inc. in his office and at Russell Stover’s candy company in Lincoln.

Virginia married Harold Krivohlavek, the love of her life, in 1968. She loved being a farmer’s wife, especially taking meals (and pie) out to the field. Virginia cherished the fact that Harold loved Sue, Ruth and Keith as his own. A couple of years into their marriage, they welcomed Karen into their family. Integrity, kindness and diligence were qualities they instilled in all their children and were very proud of them.

Virginia loved to look nice, having her hair done and nails painted, and she always greeted people with a smile. She had a love of flowers that went beyond her huge garden and her beautiful plant room. She loved canning and cooking, “spraying thistles” with Harold and fishing the farm ponds. She loved being outside and enjoyed taking daily walks around the section with her dog Hank. She enjoyed all kinds of crafts and had incredible artistic talent. She excelled at oil painting and loved to capture God’s creation on canvas.

After Harold and Virginia built their retirement home in Dorchester, they still spent a lot of time out on the farm, but their main interest was taking an active role in the lives of their grandchildren. Virginia loved laughing with them and was known for her great tickling, back scratching, birthday phone calls and overnights where she would make all their favorite foods. Many days were spent with grandkids making pies and kolaches, gardening, giving art lessons, sewing, making corsages and simply spending time with them in conversation.

Harold and Virginia loved traveling. Trips to Illinois and Texas to see family were common, and they went to Florida with Marsha several times when she was there for work. They never missed Harold’s army reunions. Often their travels included excursions to see grandchildren and attend their school events, but sometimes they just liked to “take a day off” and go for a drive.

Most of Virginia’s favorite memories included life with grandkids. When it came to kids, there was something special about her. All children from babies to teens seemed to be attracted to her, and she was affectionately known as “Grandma Kriv” even if they weren’t related. She was engaged in all of the grandkids’ interests from school sports, music, showing calves, art, theatre, powerlifting, rock climbing and even Legos.

Virginia knew the value of service to her community. She was a member of the Dorchester United Methodist Church and served for many years as the worship chairperson. She loved taking care of the flowers at church and decorating the fellowship hall for all the holidays and events. Following Harold’s passing, Virginia began attending Calvary Community Church in Lincoln with Karen and Scott’s family, making many new friends through the Grandpeople Ministry. Virginia was active in the Dorchester American Legion Auxiliary Unit #264, often helping with the Junior Auxiliary activities. Being a girl scout leader in both Waverly and Dorchester allowed her to love on other young people in the community by planning cookouts, going on hikes and organizing special events for the girls to participate in. She was very proud to donate her girl scout scrapbooks to the Saline County Museum. She loved using the talents God gave her and volunteered for many projects at church, school and with the auxiliary.

In 2016, Virginia and her beloved canine companion Chester “temporarily” moved in with Karen and Scott’s family in Lincoln. Although she often missed living in Dorchester, she was glad she didn’t have to live alone. Virginia enjoyed spending private time with God and always felt blessed with her wonderful husband and family, her good health and her many friends. People could sense that she found joy in the simplest of things, and she lived out the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Her acts of love that made people feel so important and special impacted many lives. She would want nothing more than to know that all those people knew God and spent their lives honoring Him. She joined Harold in heaven on January 15, 2025.

Virginia was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Harold Krivohlavek; daughter, Ruth Lee; son-in-law, Tom Shaw; brother, Maynard McCormick; half brothers and sisters, Cyrus McCormick, Rosemary and husband Jim Halton, Mary Ella Wagner, Ruby Smith, Hughie McCormick; brother-in-law, Raymond Krivohlavek; sister-in-law Maxine Krivohlavek.

Virginia is survived by her children, SueAnn Shaw of Oakdale, Keith Spanyers and Pam Carlin of Dorchester, Karen and Scott Wiles of Lincoln; grandchildren Traci (Bob) McGuan of Farwell, Tory Durre of Oakdale, Morgan (Ben) Roth of Milford, Erica (John) Gross of Waverly, Joshua (Molly) Lee of Pingtung, Taiwan, Nicholas (Elizabeth) Wiles of Dorchester, Jonathan (Chloe) Wiles of Lincoln, Allison Wiles of Lincoln, Zachary Wiles of Lincoln; great-grandchildren, Tarryn (Ryan) Jonas, Aidan Shaw and Oaklyn McGuan, Jon Shaw, David, Samantha, Ruby and Dominic Durre, Ellee and Malia Roth, Boyd Gross, Azariah Lee, Noah Lee, Marie and Peter Wiles, Harper Wiles; great-great-grandchildren McKinley Shaw, Whitley and Hazeley Jonas; sister Marsha (Qadeer Baqi) McCormick of Joliet, IL; sisters-in-law, Nettie McCormick of Shelbyville, IL, Wanda McCormick of Niles, MI; many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends too numerous to count and her Westie “baby” Chester.

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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."