My Family of Origin

This is a small commentary on my family of origin. My Mother (maiden name Valek) came from a family of 11 children and so did my Dad. The Valek's moved to Hazelwood, Minnesota (I challenge you to find that on a map) in 1914 and the same year my Dad's family (Malecha) moved to Little Chicago (same challenge) about a mile away as the crow flies, These families were the only Czech people in the neighorhood so it was only natural they were drawn to each other. My parents, Tom and Mary, started all of this and to make a long story short my Dad's 2 brothers and 1 sister married 3 of my Mom's siblings. I have many "double" cousins but more about that later. All of them were farmers as
were most people in the area. In 1926 my parents bought an existing farmstead in Dakota County about 3 miles from Hazelwood. They had a barn raising and it was completed in one day. They kept cows, hogs, poultry, and field horses. Dad had a small sawmill and he was an expert on the new Rural Electric Association (REA), many of the local farms were "wired" by Dad and his brother Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe's wife Christina is my Mother's sister, they lived with my parents after they married until they were able to find their own farm. My parents farmed until about 1943, they had an auction, rented out the farm to Aunt Elizabeth and Jim Koktavy. We moved to town, Dad had gone to work for Commander Elevators earlier so he had a good job. Mom worked nights at the Riverside Cafe, it was located several doors down from the apartment we were living in. One of the things she loved was the fact she knew how to make a "Denver sandwich", throughout her life she never found a restaurant that knew how to make a proper Denver sandwich. Next we moved out to the Peterson farm across the road from where my nephew Mark Malecha lives now. We lived there for several years, my younger sister was born during this time. Our house burned down on the farm, my Dad and many relatives built a new house and in 1949 we moved back to the farm. We stayed on the farm until my brother came home from the Army, he bought the farm and we moved to town. By now I was in high school and I will sign off for now, more at a later time. The Countess