IT'S A SMALL WORLD

(Now that Štefan has arrived in Iowa I will refer to him by his American name, Steve.  His father will be referred to as Steve, Sr.)

In addition to being greeted by his father, Steve met his new family in Iowa.  There was his stepmother Emera, his half-sisters Mary (she was 8 years old in 1930) and Annie (6 years old), his half-bothers Pete (5 years old) and Joe (3 years old).  They lived in a house near the gypsum mills southeast of Fort Dodge.  There was a group of houses there that were built by the U.S. Gypsum Company for its workers

The Miklos were a hard working family.  In addition to his job in the gypsum mines, Steve, Sr., had a large vegetable garden and ran a small dairy. Steve helped his father and Emera bottle milk and deliver it to customers and small neighborhood grocery stores through out the south-side of Fort Dodge.

There were other Slovak families living nearby. There were even other families who had come from Drahovce including the Petras and the Bednar families.  It must have been comforting to Steve that in addition to his parents there were a few others who spoke Slovak.

Speaking of the Bednar Family: Mike Bednar was about 9 years old when Steve came to Iowa.  Although Mike was born in Fort Dodge, his father's family came from Drahovce. Later in life Mike married Helen Davis and adopted her daughter, Earlene. Earlene married Steve's son James. The expression, "It's a small world" comes to mind.

Here is a picture of Steve, Sr., with Mary on the left, Emera on the right, Pete, Annie and Joe are in the front row.  This photo was taken in the late 1930s. Steve told his daughter Pauline that he felt bad that he was not included in the family photo.