5 minute read
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT - JOE RYCHLIK
from Caldwell, Texas
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
TRUE TO HIS ROOTS
Meet Mr. Caldwell
JOE RYCHLIK TALKS OF LAUGHS, LOVE AND SERVICE TO HIS COMMUNITY
By Michelle Banse Stokes, photos by Emily Henderson
Affectionately known as Mr. Caldwell by the locals, Joe Rychlik is an icon in these parts. There are not too many people in the area that he doesn’t know and, similarly, there are not too many people in Caldwell that don’t know this smiling man with his signature faded overalls.
After retiring from a life-long career of serving his community at the Caldwell Post Office in 2001, Joe’s gregarious nature has kept him active in his community. It would seem he’s got his hands in just about everything from the Kolache Festival to the Czech Heritage Society. He and his wife, Donna, also assist with the worship music during the Saturday evening Mass at St. Mary Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. And that isn’t all. Joe visits residents at nursing homes, runs errands for those in need, and also serves as the unofficial local historian at times.
“My dad was always interested in people,” Joe shared. “People always called him to ask: ‘Who’s so-and-so’s mother? Who is their family?’ I share his interest in people and now a lot of people call on me to ask, “Who was their mother?’ I’ve been around town so much because of my career at the post office. See, when you have a post office, you have a captive business. There might be three or four gas stations or grocery stores in town, but there is only one post office and everyone goes there.”
Left, Joe Rychlik retired from a career at the Caldwell Post Office, taking with him fond memories and lively stories to share with others.
Above, Joe and his wife, Donna, serve the congregation with a happy heart at St. Mary Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Caldwell.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
Joe has deep roots in Caldwell. After all, he’s lived there his entire life. His great-grandparents came to the area seeking a better life and made the voyage from Moravia (now the Czech lands) to settle in New Tabor in the late 1800s. Joe, who is fluent in Czech, can see the original house that his great-grandfather built in 1896 from his back porch.
“The original farmhouse is still there,” Joe added. “My greatgrandparents were cotton farmers. When I finished high school, I started working at the Ford dealership and then the Caldwell Post Office. They hired me in 1966 for a job that was supposed to be part-time but turned full-time almost immediately. A carrier was ill so the postmaster handed me a bag and said, ‘Take off.’ I took over that main walking route, a 12-mile route, and it was really easy for me because I knew so many families. I had to take a leave for six months for the Army Reserve in 1968, but then I was back at work at the post office.”
Even then, Joe was going the extra mile, so to speak, to help others in need.
Top, the Rychlik’s toast to a cozy afternoon on the porch of their home in Caldwell; bottom, Joe and his wife, Donna pose for a picture with an heirloom quilt. CALDWELL, TEXAS | 19
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
“A lot of times I had extra time to visit with folks,” Joe said. “At that time, if someone didn’t drive, they might ask me to pick up their prescription at Corner Drug and bring it the next day on my route. I recall one time a young lady standing on her mother’s porch saying, ‘I need some help loading up a sewing machine because Mama is leaving her old husband.’ We loaded that machine in the truck and they took off. When I returned, I told my postmaster the story and he said with a laugh, ‘You get into everything, don’t you?’”
No article worth its salt would be complete without a real love story. Make no mistake, Joe really lights up when he talks about his girl.
“When I was in my 20s, I was part of a group that would go to polka dances,” Joe recalls. “This man Frank Maresh was always trying to fix me up with somebody. One day he said, “I got just the girl for you!’ There was a new extension agent in town and her name was Donna Junell. I didn’t want to listen to old Frank. As I walked out for my mail route the next morning, I saw a new blue Ford Torino and this lady got out at the courthouse. I wondered if that was who Frank was talking about. Durn, she looked nice.”
Joe hurried over to his brother’s house and picked up his nephew, John David, to take with him to break the ice with Donna. “I walked into the extension office in the Burleson County Courthouse and there was this pretty lady,” Joe said. “I introduced myself and my little nephew and it went from there. Donna was only going to be here for a period of time and then move on, but I’m glad she didn’t. In a couple or three months, we knew this was it.”
After working as an extension agent, Donna went on to teach home economics at Caldwell High School and later for the school district in Dime Box. She was the school’s librarian for the last 18 years of her career. And after 50 years of marriage, Donna is still the sparkle in Joe’s eye. And he’s hers, too.
Joe is quick to share the secret to the happiness he’s found in his humble life in Caldwell.
“Don’t hold a grudge,” Joe added. “That’s about the best I can tell you right there. God is in charge. What happens in our life, well, we can question it but don’t expect an answer. I’ve learned to take things as they come along. Sad times can’t go on forever, so when they happen, turn around and be happy.”
Left, Donna Rychlik reminises over a quilt that she completed with her mother, Louise Calvin. Louise completed the state bird and flower blocks while she traveled to to bluegrass festivals around the country and her daughter, Donna, set the blocks together and hand quilted the top. The mother-daugher project spanned ten years; right, the Rychlik’s hands, complete with Donn’a keepsake thimble, reflect a lifetime of love and devotion to each other.
