Also look at the companion book This Is Your Life - Write It!
Czeching My Roots
A Heritage Saga and Autobiography
by
Leona Sprinclova Choy
The story of a Czech girl who didn't want to be Czech:
Who was born during the Great Depression and grew up in the 1930s and '40s.
Who was immersed in Czech
culture and customs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was influenced for a lifetime by her precious, live-in grandmother who spoke no English.
Who spent a lifetime as far away from her heritage as possible--in China!
Who finally embraced her ethnicity in later life, searched diligently for her roots, and discovered relatives and exciting adventures in The Czech
Republic.
Who researched her rich religious heritage back to the martyr, Jan Hus, and the Moravian missionary movement, and journeyed to those scenes
of history.
Leona has written a legacy book we all wish we could write to pass on our heritage.
Her fast-paced narrative gives the reader a "you are there" sense of the perilous 19th century voyage to America in steerage class and the Ellis Island arrival
experience of Czechs and other immigrants. She follows her ancestors as they settle in cornfield country in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Her research into life in
Iowa from the days of the Indians through World War II is well-documented, interwoven with experiences of her own relatives. Leona has done her
homework on the socio-political-economic background of the Czechs which caused them to leave their homeland for an uncertain life in the New World. Her
chapter on "Czeching Out the Czechs" is historically thorough all the way back to the Celts who spread to Moravia
and Slovakia during the 4th century B.C. She traces the courageous Czech people and their national upheavals through centuries of subjugation by neighboring armies, the Austro-Hungarian era, establishment
of their democracy, the Hitler and Russian occupations, the "Velvet Revolution" and the "Velvet Divorce" to the present Czech Republic.
Leona paints a vivid picture of the specific villages, towns and regions of Moravia and Bohemia from which not only her families originated, but are the birthplaces
of multiplied thousands of Iowa, Nebraska, and other heartland Czech settlers. Leona takes you there with her, whether or not you have the opportunity to go
yourself.
Her slice-of-life descriptions of how Iowa Czechs sought to perpetuate their heritage through festivals and cultural efforts is enlightening. Readers who grew up in
the '30s and '40s will relate to her graphic childhood and teenage memories of close-knit neighborhoods and simple life before TV and computers.
In telling her own story, Leona is candid, straightforward, and vulnerable but always genuine as she reveals her own struggles, feelings, failures, and dreams. She
found her purpose and passion and followed it. Going against the tide of convention, she married a Chinese ministerial student whom she met in college. She sailed
away with him literally on "a slow boat to China" for a cross-cultural, adventuresome life as a missionary. The mother of four sons, her "Chinese
Czechers," now grandmother of 10, she pursued an active life of mission work overseas and in the U.S. to become a writer and publisher, co-founder of a mission organization,
and president of a radio station. Her stories of more than a dozen trips into China and extensive travels throughout the world leave the reader breathless.
Intimate accounts of her cancer survival and widowhood are deeply moving. Leona's Christian faith and optimism shine through as she eagerly and diligently passes
on her heritage to her own posterity. She inspires readers to consider leaving a legacy of their own.
Her concluding chapter, "Living on the Summit," is a classic of accumulated wisdom, perspective, and philosophy of life as Leona shares what God has taught her
in her seven fulfilling decades. Her tale is sprinkled with anecdotes, human interest, dialogue, humor, her original
poetry, and nostalgic recollections many readers will relate to.
Even if you're not in the habit of reading Introductions and Prefaces, you won't want to skip Leona's. They are a powerful launching pad for her story! Her Picture
Gallery and abundant list of Resources are a meaningful inclusion.
In her published biography of her husband, Ted, My Dreams and Visions, she goes into greater detail of their exciting life together in China, but this--Leona's
31st book--is uniquely her own story.
WHO will want to order CZECHING MY ROOTS?
Everyone who knows Leona or her family!
Everyone who has a smidgen of Czech blood in their veins--and their children and grandchildren and spouses! You need to know your cultural
heritage and Leona has done your homework for you!
Those born or raised in the heartland irrespective of ethnic origin. Also those whose parents or grandparents came from that region or that period of
time.
People interested in Christianity, missionary work, and China.
Anyone who has struggled with personal identity or with being part of an ethnic or cultural minority.
Leona's relatives, no matter how "shirt tail" distant, and all their posterity. Her background is your background.
Everyone who likes to read a can't-put-it-down biography!
How to order
ISBN # 1-889283-16-9 Publisher: Golden Morning Publishing
440 pages, Soft cover. Price: $17.95 plus $3.00 per copy for Shipping and Handling
within the United States
Also look at the companion book This
Is Your Life - Write It!
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