I spent some time this weekend in the 1950s wing of the Vault and emerged with several photos of the Rev. Clement Kubesh. Ordained in 1933, Fr. Kubesh replaced an ailing Fr. Petlach at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in 1946, and served as its pastor for 25 years. This picture does not have a caption, but I assume that it is the celebration of the church’s Golden Jubilee in 1952. I recognize a few faces in the crowd – Fr. Kubesh is the priest on the far left (an unlikely place for him to be. Ha.) I can see a young Dick Moore at the end of one of the tables, and Valdene Brabec waiting tables on the right. Sitting alone next to a line of empty chairs is Otto Brabec. By all appearances, he has a cigarette in both hands! I’ve had some days like that, I guess. Maybe I’d be chain-smoking too if I had that much clergy seated behind me….
Next is Fr. Kubesh at the park with Otto Brabec, May 13, 1962. I wonder how many cigars he smoked in his lifetime – it’s hard to picture him without one. He was such an expert stogie smoker, I heard that he won a “slow” cigar smoking contest – whoever could keep his cigar lit for the longest was the winner. (I’ll bet that contest was a real nail-biter. Ha. You could go home, milk the cows, have supper, take in a softball game in Howells, come back into Clarkson and hardly see any change in the cigar).
Some of you may remember his famously cluttered desk….
Like my own Heun pastor, Fr. Anthony Pluhacek, and probably all the other ministers in Clarkson, Fr. Kubesh hated the idea that Clarkson High School’s mascot was a Red Devil. But he was never able to make much headway on that score among the stubborn Bohemians.
And finally, below is a picture of Fr. Kubesh celebrating the 25th anniversary of his ordination, on June 17, 1958. It looks like this party was at the Opera House as well. (Who do you suppose made that magnificent cake? Perhaps my Aunt Emily Cada). Fr. Kubesh left Clarkson in June, 1971 and moved to Idaho. I’m told that he returned to Nebraska for his retirement.
Glenn
Pat Hamsa Brown commented: I remember Father Kubesh quite well. I remember attending Catechism in the basement of the rectory. A nun was our instructor and then as I got older I graduated to class in the church held in the front pews with girls on the south side and the boys on the north. Father Kubesh was our instructor then.
I remember a parent would travel to Omaha (Duchesne Convent) every Saturday to bring and take home the sisters. I remember sitting in the front seat with my Dad when it was our turn to take the sisters back to the convent. I tried to make conversation with them, but they weren’t too talkative. I think one prayed the rosary.
[Pat’s experience sounds very much like ours at Heun’s Holy Trinity Church. During the time of Fr. Kovar, Catechism classes were taught for 2 weeks in the summer, right after the regular school year ended. Then when Fr. Pluhacek arrived, he changed it to every Saturday during the school year. As in Clarkson, the younger kids were taught by nuns in the church basement and the older kids (7th and 8th grades?) by the pastor either in the rectory or upstairs in the church, segregated in the pews. Fr. Pluhacek brought the nuns over from Omaha and took them back after class. The kids from the Tabor church joined us for Catechism as well.]
clarksonhistory 
I remember Father Kubesh quite well. I remember attending Catechism in the basement of the rectory. A nun was our instructor and then as I got older I graduated to class in the church held in the front pews with girls on the south side and the boys on the north. Father Kubesh was our instructor then.
I remember a parent would travel to Omaha (Duschene Convent) every Saturday to bring and take home the sisters. I remember sitting in the front seat with my Dad when it was our turn to take the sisters back to the convent. I tried to make conversation with them, but they weren’t too talkative. I think one prayed the rosary.
I remember how excited Fr. Kubesh was about Vatican II and how he embraced the changes that were coming about in the Catholic Church. However, after he left Clarkson and while in Idaho, he changed his mind about all the changes and reverted back to the “old ways.” I could never understand why he changed his mind. I certainly did not agree with him.
Pat (Hamsa) Brown
Thanks for the memories, Pat. Your experience sounds very much like ours at Heun’s Holy Trinity Church. During the time of Fr. Kovar, Catechism classes were taught for 2 weeks in the summer, right after the regular school year ended. Then when Fr. Pluhacek arrived, he changed it to every Saturday during the school year. Like you, the younger kids were taught by nuns in the basement and the older kids (7th and 8th grades?) by the pastor upstairs in the church, segregated in the pews. Fr. Pluhacek brought the nuns over from Omaha and took them back after class. The kids from the Tabor church joined us as well.
I remember Fr. Kubesh’s departure differently. My recollection is that he rejected at least some of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and moved to Idaho to set up a congregation that followed the old ways, perhaps even the staying with the Latin Rite. But I was not a parishioner in Clarkson, and had left town by then, so I may not have it right.
Does that look like Clarence Moore 2nd person to the left of the US flag at head table?
Yes, and I wonder if that is Rev. Filipi on his left? Also, it looks like Fr. Kovar, the pastor at Heun, in the middle of the priests.
Fr. Kubesh used to come to our Severa Garage in Clarkson to do repair work on equipment for the Catholic cemetery. He used the welder and cutting torch quite well as I recall, also sharpened mower blades, most of the time with a cigar in his mouth.
If you are still trying to ID people on the top pic( the one of the 50th anniv. in the opera house…The person sitting on Clarence Moore’s left is Gordon Vlach’s grandfather—Mr. Vlach…The person sitting next to Dick Moore is Dale Reznicek…Frank Miller and first wife are on the other side of Clarence Moore…the boy on the other side of Mr. Vlach could be Frankie Miller…Looks like Frank Toman in front facing front(bottom right of picture)
Fr. Kubesh sounds like a character!
This installment, Glenn, made me laugh a couple of times!
He is buried in a non-Catholic cemetery in Coeur d’Alene, ID. I’m assuming he had a fallout with everyone. Where was he actually living in the late 1980s? I can’t seem to find answers. My guess is, he figured out the group he joined was a cult, but he’d burned bridges with his diocese, so he was on his own between 1984 and his death. He didn’t understand all the politics of the CMRI (the cult he joined in North Idaho in the 1970s), it was more of a certain 1950s way of life, it probably became clear after being with the group for a while. They tricked a lot of people into joining, but it does attract a certain type of person who wants a return to the 1950s. That group has had numerous abusers, including the leadership.