Clara Prokop

To celebrate the life of Clara A Prokop, a Rosary Service will be held at 10:30, Monday, April 13, 2015 at Kersenbrock Funeral Chapel, Colby, KS. Inurnment, at Mt Calvary Cemetery, Atwood, KS, will follow immediately after the service. Clara A. Prokop, 76, of Colby, KS, died March 26, 2015, in Hays, KS after a short illness. Clara was born on Nov. 8, 1938 to Cyprian and Antoniette (Horinek) Prokop. The Prokop farmstead was located Northeast of Colby and that is where she was taught good work ethics. Farm chores could be driving a tractor working the fields or perhaps driving a truck loaded with grain to the bin, shocking feed, or that dreaded chore of cleaning that big chicken house her Dad had built. But there was also plenty of time to play on the merry-go-round, horseback riding, and the many baseball games with the Stupka kids, who were not only neighbors, but they were her cousins too. Saturday nights might be spent at a dance hall, but Sundays were for attending church, then the traditional roast beef dinners and card games with family and friends. Clara started her schooling at the Highland #38 Country School just a half mile walk north of the farm, and later attending the Colby Schools. She was a bookkeeper at Duckwall, the local variety store, before becoming a switchboard operator for the Southwestern Bell CO. She enjoyed many things in life, among them were playing the piano or her accordion. She could read music, but she played mostly ‘by ear’. The loves of her life where her husband, Cato Gilbert, her daughter, Christine, her granddaughters and great-granddaughters. When her marriage was dissolved, her life changed. She moved to Colorado and worked for a telephone company, but she would return to Colby where she became a care giver to many. Clara was preceded in death by her parents; siblings, Joe Prokop, Pauline Gilbert, Thressia Morris and Adaline Delzeit; sister-in-law, Delores Prokop, and brothers-in-law; Floyd Cousins, Kenny Morris, Lloyd Stickel, and Corky Delzeit. She is survived by her daughter, Christine and her husband Larry Pearce of Herington,KS.; granddaughters, April Anderson, of Hays, KS, June Anderson, of Odessa, TX, and Kelly Bechdoldt of Hays; great-granddaughters, Siena and Estella Vargas, of Selden; siblings, MaryAnn Cousins, of Thornton, CO.; Caroline Tubbs and her husband Robert of Levant; Marcella Stenger and her husband Joe, of Densmore;Barbara Highland and her husband, Floyd, of Colby; Janet Christiansen and her husband, Ken, of Brewster; Lionel Prokop and his wife, Sharlyn, of North Platte, NE.;brother-in-law, Norman Gilbert, Mesa, AZ, and a host of extended family and friends. For those that knew Clara very well, she was willing to help you, but it had to be done her way. Memories of Clara will never be forgotten and will remain in our hearts forever. Memorials may be made to the Clara Prokop Memorial fund in care of Kersenbrock Funeral Chapel, 745 S. Country Club Drive, Colby, KS 67701. Condolences may be left at www.kersenbrockfuneralchapel.com.