As follows are a few remembrances of James and Katherine. There are more in the Recollection Section, so be sure to check there.

Religion
My mother recalls Katherine as a very religious woman. She was involved with church activities in Riverside and was president of the Catholic Order of Foresters, a fraternal organization. Even when Katherine was in her 80's, my mother said she would go over and keep house for St. Mary's Parish rectory in Riverside.

Food
Katherine had a reputation as a great cook. My mom can still taste and smell her peach dumplings, strudel and caraway bread. Mom also remembers her mother, Grace, mentioning how great a cook Katherine was. In Riverside, Katherine had her own chicken coup and would kill her own chickens for Sunday dinners and collect her own eggs. While this might seem a bit unusual to us citified people; it useful to remember that she her origins were on a farm and she was comfortable with its ways. Katherine also had huge vegetable gardens in Riverside. Given the quality of life in Riverside and the kind of community, it's not surprising the town on occasion used to get after her to get rid the chicken coup.

James' liked to drink beer and given his size, he most likely enjoyed his wife's cooking.

Appearance and Personality
James Filipek is thought to have been about 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 9. He was at least 6 inches taller than Katherine was. They both had blue eyes.

Katherine was short and was slender throughout her life. She appears to have been a kind and loving soul who would help anyone. She was always taking people in whether it was her son-in-law, Larry, her new grandchild Mary, or the young Sokolik boys. She had a fondness for nice jewelry and samples can be seen in her pictures in the Vaclav Filipek Picture Collection.

As he aged, James gained considerable weight. By the tone of the Pueblo letters, James appears to be fairly demanding, controlling, and a take charge kind of person. He knew what he wanted and said it directly. Certainly these are attributes were desirable as foreman of a rail crew and for dealing with the daily issues of immigrant life. John Sokolik appears similar and maybe that's why they got along.

While most of us now live a somewhat refined life, it good to remember that the life of the immigrant was a challenging one. There were language problems, there was confusion about the customs and the laws, there were no parents to fall back on, there were no guaranteed jobs, and most of the money went for food and shelter in very small homes. The immigrant stock tended to be strong, take charge, self confident, shrewd, and risk taking individuals. Without these attributes they would not have come.

Personal Possessions
We only have a few personal items of the Filipeks. Terry Nelson has Vaclav Filipek's 1884 Agronomics Journal along with numerous pictures and letters. Dave Jordan has a set of Katherine Filipek's Bavarian Salt and Peppershakers. That is all we know about, although other things may show up with time.

Closing
James and Katherine lived a complicated life. Theirs was a journey filled with many paths. They tried many in their journey and a few times circled around more before making their final decisions. Both grew up on farms and lived in families, which for many generations knew no other life than taking care of the land and the regular cycle of work. Through chance, Katerina saw a taste of the "big" city in 1882 and that event changed both of their lives. Afterwards, they went back and forth seemingly tugging between the traditions of family, farm, and history in Bohemia and a totally new kind of life in America. After seven uncertain years they eventually made that decision.

After 5 years of struggle in the new country, they made another key decision and that was to temporarily leave close friends and relatives in Chicago to try to improve their fortunes by working for the railroads in Colorado. This particular decision appears to have worked very well and upon their return in 1900, they were able to begin a grocery store and move from the harder labor of their youth to become successful merchants in a vibrant and cosmopolitan neighborhood in the South Town section of Chicago. The increasing prosperity of the grocery store allowed their youngest son to attend Wendell Phillips, a private school and to allow their daughter to attend boarding school.

James and Katherine's pictures tell a story of a strong family bonds that spent much time together. Their faith center around St. John Nepomucene and Vaclav was part of many social and religious organizations. His early death must have been a surprise and there is a certain sadness that after finally getting it all together that he passed away too soon. Katherine was a strong woman who went on with her life. On her own she went back to Bohemia to grieve, and then after her daughter died she raised her newborn grandchild. While she didn't run the grocery store personally after Vaclav died, she continued to own it and sold it in 1921 before moving to Riverside. Here she peacefully spent the next 27 years watching over her sons, their families, and making wonderful strudel and dumplings for all.