Czech Republic honors leader of Cedar Rapids museum

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cecilia Rokusek’s name is on the prestigious Gratias Agit award she received last month in Prague. But the president and chief executive officer of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library said the award also shines a bright light on the museum, Cedar Rapids and its citizens, past, present and future.

Rokusek is the only American in this year’s group of eight honorees, for an award that loosely translates to “gives thanks.” She was shocked to receive a call in May from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, telling her of the award, which was bestowed Oct. 19.

“I was overwhelmed a little bit,” she told The Gazette. And in an interview with Radio Prague International, she said: “It is indeed one of the highest honors I’ve ever been recognized with. When I received the call I immediately was in tears.”

In a tradition that dates to 1997, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic bestows the award “for the promotion of the good name of the Czech Republic abroad, and in appreciation of prominent personalities and organizations developing activities in non-governmental fields.” Previous recipients have included folk singer Joan Baez, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, playwright Tom Stoppard and Academy Award-winning director Milos Forman.

“That's a class set. You know, I never ever considered myself part of that prestigious group,” Rokusek, 69, of Cedar Rapids, told The Gazette in a online interview from the Fort Lauderdale area, where she and husband, Robert Petrik, have a second home. “But now they're really looking, I think, at people that really are making an impact globally, and they're making an impact in a more common way.”

Her fellow 2022 laureates include:

Spotlight on Cedar Rapids

Rokusek, who has served the past 12 years as honorary consul of Slovakia in Florida, was honored for her scholarship and leadership in health care, as well as her leadership at the museum in Cedar Rapids, an institution cited as “an example to follow of care for Czech cultural heritage abroad, its modern presentation and preservation of these values and traditions for future generations.”

“We represented such incredibly diverse group,” Rokusek said. “What an incredible group of people. But for all, I think the central theme (is) kind, loving, wanting to make a difference in the Czech Republic, for the Czech Republic, for the people, and for this great nation.

“We in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are really doing a lot to preserve the culture, to preserve the history, and also the new era of the Czech Republic in America. And so I absolutely loved when I was on Czech radio and being interviewed, they kept talking about Cedar Rapids and the museum and the library,” she said.

“That made me so happy because they really recognize us as a national (Czech) museum and library in North America — the only one in North America — and in my way that I can promote that, I'm pleased and happy to do that. It's a labor of love. But to my ears, it was so refreshing and to hear Cedar Rapids, Iowa, being spoken on TV and radio, and in the print there. That made me really proud.”

Even her driver — from a Czech version of Uber — recognized her from the media attention, and wanted to know more about Iowa and where it’s located.

“It was really neat to be able to tell people how important Iowa is to immigration and to the Czechs. I call this the ‘Gateway to America’ for Czechs, because they came through Spillville, they came through Cedar Rapids. Some of them went to other states, but we were really at the heartland of America. And so it was fun to tell the taxi driver (about that),” she said.

Spillville was the gateway for Rokusek’s great-grandparents, who emigrated in the late 1800s from the Tabor region in today’s Czech Republic. They came to Spillville, but decided to move westward to South Dakota. They lived in a covered wagon for two years, then bought a plot of land through the Homestead Act, became successful farmers and helped start the community of Tabor, S.D., where Rokusek grew up immersed in her Czech heritage and culture, speaking Czech and English at home.

Looking ahead

She’s proud of the Cedar Rapids museum’s accomplishments during her tenure and before — especially of becoming part of the Smithsonian Affiliate network, which opens doors to housing significant traveling exhibitions.

“The Smithsonian Affiliate program calls the National Czech & Slovak Museum ‘the poster child for disasters’ — the 2008 flood, the pandemic which affected all museums and libraries, and then the derecho,” Rokusek noted. "In challenging times, the staff and my predecessor (Gail Naughton) all rose above and made the museum stronger and bigger.

“And I think for us, we are positioning ourselves for the future. The pandemic, as cruel as it was, and the derecho that impacted us a bit, allowed us to step back and think, ‘How are we going to be different in the next 10 years, in the next 20 years and in the next 50 years?’ It meant a lot of planning that we're still going through, and a capital campaign that we're preparing for (in the coming year).

“It really was a reflective time, because it's a great institution … but in the 21st century, times have changed, and we had to pivot … virtually and digitally. We've had to increase staff. We’ve had to look at bringing in unique talent and unique artists to Cedar Rapids, to bring our culture into the current, contemporary, 21st century.”

One way to ensure that is through increased educational programming with the various schools, colleges and universities in the Corridor, as well as creating opportunities for Czech and Slovak students to come here for immersive experiences, she said. Even Jan Lipavsky, the minister of foreign affairs who presented the Gratias Agit award to Rokusek, came to Iowa on a leadership forum in Des Moines several years ago.

Being more reflective of the past allows the museum staff to prepare for the future, she said, “to assure that this wonderful museum and library that’s in Cedar Rapids, is there, it's relevant — relevant to all people and relevant to all ages.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com