Vencil L. Kruml, 96, of Grand Island passed away August 18, 2023 at Crane Gardens in Grand Island, Nebraska.
The family has entrusted Livingston-Sondermann Funeral Home in Grand Island with the arrangements.
A visitation will be held Thursday, August 24, 2023 from 10am – 11am at Livingston-Sondermann Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, at 11:00 a.m. at Livingston-Sondermann Funeral Home in Grand Island. Pastor Dennis Davenport will officiate.
Interment will be held in Cottonwood Cemetery in Burwell, Nebraska.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Crane Gardens in Grand Island or to the family to be designated at a later date.
Vencil was born February 27, 1927 to John and Marie (Maracek) Kruml, on the family farm at Sioux Creek west of Burwell, Nebraska.
His family lived on the family farm until the Great Depression in the 30’s. From there the family moved south to the Doran Table. The drought hit and consequently, the family moved to Malin, Oregon in 1934 to find work.
Vencil attended Malin High School participating in speech, FFA and football. He graduated in the spring of 1944.
The family moved back to Nebraska later that year, residing in Omaha. He and his dad worked for Omaha Steel Mills and later for Kellogg’s. In 1947, they purchased a farm near Elyria and later in the 50’s moved to Grand Island, where Vencil lived until now.
Vencil worked for Debus Bread Company delivering bread to local stores and then for Goodyear Tire Company for 20 years.
Vencil loved to visit and tell stories of the past and discuss current events. He had an amazing recall of details past or present. He also loved music as evidenced by his large collections of albums, especially Czech music. He had several accordions and played by ear. He would think of a song from the past and play it from memory. He took pride in his Czech heritage, belonging to the South Central Nebraska Czech Society. In 1993, he helped to publish a recipe book entitled, “Family Favorites”. Recipes in the book submitted by Vencil are: Bread Dumplings, Potato Pancakes, Hamburger or Ground Beef Mix, Steak Fry & Gravy, and of course Kolaches. Vencil was a good cook and he liked to garden after he retired.
He supported charities and spent much his life helping others especially the elderly, being it family or neighbors. He said the best thing to do in life was to “pay it forward”. And he so appreciated all that his neighbors and everyone did for him in these later years when he wasn’t able to get out as much. He never missed a trip to the cemeteries on Memorial Day even after he could no longer drive.
Vencil is survived by many nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents, John & Marie Kruml; brothers, John (US Army World War II) and Joe (Irma) Kruml; sisters, Marie (Leland) Chaffin and Annie (Emil) Rutar; niece, Jeanne (Chaffin) Cain; nephew, Robert Rutar; great nieces, Brenda Chaffin and Lora Bonsall.
Condolences for the family may be signed at www.livson.com.
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