Evelyn Freeburn

Evelyn Mary Kopriva Freeburn was born on October 16, 1926 in rural Hill County near Abbott, Texas to Vinc and Amalie Ruzijcka Urbanovsky. She died Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at Hilltop Lodge in Beloit, Kansas at the age of 93.

She was the third of four children, and had one brother and two sisters. At a very young age, she and her family survived the total destruction of their home by a tornado. The family later moved to a farm closer to Abbott. There, she attended grade school and perfected the English language as Czech was spoken at home. After school, she helped with the cotton and tobacco farming.

Her early teen years were spent working as a home domestic helper and then as a clerk in department and 5&10 stores in Waco and Hillsboro. She boarded a train every day to get to her jobs.

In the early years of WWII, she responded to a request in a local Catholic newspaper for correspondence with Catholic soldiers. She began writing to John Kopriva from Ludell, Kansas, who was stationed in Texas and also a Czech. They met for the first time just before he received orders to the South Pacific. He returned in January of 1946, and they were married in May. They moved to the Kopriva family farm north of Atwood. To this union five girls and two boys were born. She kept busy sewing dresses for the girls, helping with 4-H projects, tending a large flower and vegetable garden, and serving as president of the Altar Society for their rural parish.

After the children were grown, she worked at the grocery store in Atwood, and drove a rural school bus route. She and John frequently enjoyed dances and playing cards with friends. John passed away in August of 1975. She continued to live on the farm until she met Merle Freeburn of McCook, Nebraska through Parents Without Partners. They lived in McCook when she gardened and tended her many bird feeders while working a grocery store, a bakery, and lastly at Alco, retiring at age 70. Merle passed away in 1995.

Evelyn taught herself to play the organ, sang in church choirs, and loved watching the New York Yankees and Nascar racing. Matt Kenseth is still her favorite driver. She loved to tell about her family connection to Willie Nelson, as they shared the same childhood hometown.

She entered Hilltop Lodge in Beloit in November 2015, and enjoyed bingo, music, and church activities, as well as going out to the beauty shop.

In addition to her husbands, she was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Marie Matula and husband Robert; brother-in-law, Bernard Lenart; sister-in-law, Bettye Urbanovsky; father-in-law, Joseph Kopriva; sisters-in-law, Mary Oborny, Agnes Sramek and husband Lewis, Theresa Blanding and husband Lloyd, Anne Gaspar and husband Julius, Lillian Kidd and husband John; brother-in-law, Paul Kopriva; son-in-law, Daniel Marazon; and granddaughter, Jennifer Marazon.

She is survived by her sister, Helen Lenart of Texas; sister-in-law, Julia Kopriva of Atwood; children, Beth and John Duden of Beloit, John Kopriva of Atwood, Margo Marazon of Ohio, Mary and Mike Chervenka of Woodbridge, VA, Joe Kopriva of Ludell, Pam of Beloit, Dee and Dick Hazen of Salina; as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Rosary is 12:30 p.m. followed by a Funeral Mass at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, December 14, 2019, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Atwood. Burial will take place in Sts. Cyril and Methodius Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to St. John’s Catholic Church, Beloit or Sts. Cyril & Methodius Cemetery Fund.