Longtime Czech Village resident packs it in, moves on to California

At 85, Bessie Dugena is starting over.

That wasn't in the life plans for the longtime Czech School teacher and businesswoman, but last year's flood intervened.

“I thought, ‘I'm set for life,' ” Dugena said. “I have income property, I have my home, my store.”

The June 2008 flood wiped out all three: Bozenka's, Dugena's T-shirt shop in Czech Village; her home nearby on 17th Avenue SW; and the rental home, blocks away on Second Avenue SW.

As many Iowans struggled to rebound after the flood's devastation, so, too, did Dugena.

She continued to teach Czech School, as she has done every summer for the past 24 years. She found help gutting her century-old home in Czech Village and used a small flood-insurance check to have her shop rebuilt.

The triple destruction proved too much, though, and the Cedar Rapids woman boarded a plane earlier this month to live with her daughter's family in California.

“I've been out here every year for the past five years to get her to move to California,” said Dugena's daughter, Joanne Isoldi-Rodriguez, 63, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. “She'd just say, ‘I will, I will.' ”

The pull of the young students she taught at the summer Czech School, along with her shop, kept Dugena firmly planted in Cedar Rapids, where she lived with her Czech grandmother for much of her youth.

Dugena shares stories of those younger years: collecting coal and grain from the railroad cars near her grandmother's home, sharing kolaches, a Czech pastry, with American Indians who lived near a park they frequented.

Her goal is to record those memories once she settles in with her daughter in California. Dugena also would like to write a Czech lesson book and perhaps teach a Czech language class at the senior center near her daughter's home.

Isoldi-Rodriguez said her mother is an example of the flood's overwhelming force. Fiercely independent well into her 80s, Dugena suffered physically and emotionally from the stress of losing everything.

“She cried for months,” Isoldi-Rodriguez said. “It's taken its toll on her.”

Dugena, who moved from one relative's home to another after the flood, uses a cane to walk and can no longer drive. When left alone, she fell and temporarily ended up in a nursing home.

Her short-term memory suffers; she occasionally stops midsentence, losing her train of thought.

Most devastating to her was the surgery she underwent this summer. Diabetic, Dugena suffered an infection in her small right toe, which had to be amputated. Despite her protests, the operation was scheduled for the same day as the Czech School's annual program.

She missed her students' performance for the first time in 24 years.

It was her students who lifted Dugena's spirits in the days and weeks after the flood, though. Parents gave her gift cards for clothing and gas. The children drew cards that Dugena kept.

“One student broke her piggy bank and brought me nickels and dimes,” Dugena said, her eyes filling with tears at the memory. “I told her, ‘No, no. I can't take that.' ”

Isoldi-Rodriguez said her mother realized she could no longer operate her shop alone. They are trying to find a renter for the tiny store.

In the meantime, she hopes her mother can regain her health in the warm California sun.

“God willing, I can put her on a plane next summer,” Isoldi-Rodriguez said, “and she can come teach Czech School again.”