An Interview with Carol Vacca

Interview conducted by: Abigail Shand

Born into a strong family with rich history and culture, Carol Vacca shares with us her childhood and family heritage. In this interview she remembers her WWI veteran grandfather and her WWII veteran father. Carol shares with us the love and hardships her parents faced while making a home for themselves in Texas.

Interview

This interview was made in collaboration with Department of History in University of Houston and Czech Center Museum Houston. The following text is the verbatim transcription of the oral history project.

October 11, 2019

UH Interviewer: So, I was told that your grandfather, was a veteran for world war II,

Carol Vacca: World war one.

UH Interviewer: World War 1?

Carol Vacca: Yes,

UH Interviewer:  And, then he emigrated over here?  Was it just him or his family as well?

Carol Vacca: His family did as a young man.

UH Interviewer: Okay. Like his mother, father or his wife?

Carol Vacca: His mother and father. He met my grandmother over here.

UH Interviewer: How old was he at the time?

Carol Vacca: When he immigrated? He was a boy.

UH Interviewer: So, he was in the U.S. military?

Carol Vacca: The U.S. yes. He became a citizen.

UH Interviewer: Okay. Do you know why they came to America?

Carol Vacca: They came, mainly for economic reasons, before world war one. Czechoslovakia wasn't born until after world war one. It was under the Austro-Hungarian empire. People who were, especially farmers, they weren't landowners. They were like, renting, almost like serfs. It was hard to get ahead. So, a lot of people just saved everything they could and came over.

UH Interviewer: Did they continue farming when they got to the U.S.?

Carol Vacca:  My grandfather did.

UH Interviewer: Which state do they move to?

Carol Vacca: To Texas.

UH Interviewer: So, he lived his whole life here. Did he follow like traditions growing up? Do you know?

Carol Vacca: They spoke Czech at home. He had a very pronounced accent. When I was growing up, he spoke English. We found out few years after my aunt died, that she had collected some of their correspondence, during world war one. My grandfather and grandmother were not married, but apparently, they were either engaged or very serious. They wrote letters back and forth, he wrote in English and she wrote in, Czech. I guess he was more familiar with Czech than we thought. It was kind of interesting because some of the phrases you could tell he was literally translating into English. It was kind of cute, when he wrote, “it was pleasant to think of you” or, you know, it just sounded, very quaint, but sometimes it was kind of funny. Things he said, one thing that we found was so charming. He would end some of his letters had when “ Till I see you when Johnny comes marching home” and his name was John.

UH Interviewer: Aw, nice. So, your grandmother was Czech as well?

Carol Vacca: Yes both. All four of them, both sides are Czech.

UH Interviewer: Okay. Was she born here?

Carol Vacca: She was born here in Texas.

UH Interviewer: Did they teach you Czech?

Carol Vacca: No, They did speak Czech around us sometimes but mostly English. They wanted us not to have an accent. My dad was in world war II and it was that generation that felt very American, living in a small town. We were very conscious, of differences and so he had a business and he just wanted to make sure that we were American. Therefore, they only spoke it when they didn't want us to know what they were saying. So, as a result, we learned some of the bad words, some prayers and words for food. And we learned how to say, you are a monkey in Czech, and you are a, a little imp. So, we learned those phrases, but mainly we all spoke English at home. Dad, I think, well, both of them remembered when they went to school, if you didn't know English, you know, you had a hard time.

UH Interviewer: Yeah.

Carol Vacca: But we had Czech influences we had Czech food, the kolache and the different kinds food. They were a very religious group. We grew up Roman Catholic, which was part of the heritage coming over from that part of the Czechoslovakia at that time. Then very small towns, a lot of the life was kind of built around the church, you know, socially and economically too. So, it was a strong, part of my growing up.

UH Interviewer: Do you still follow some Czech customs?

Carol Vacca: Yeah, we do. We have the custom of, Saint Nicholas, at Christmas time where you put the shoes out and hopefully, you'll, get something in there besides coal. And things like that, just a small things. I have three adult children now they don't practice any. My husband is Italian/German. And so, you know, he shares their customs of course. They grew up with a blend of all of that and not really as attached to some of the traditions, as I am

UH Interviewer: Okay. You mentioned that it was hard growing up in a small town. Was there a Czech minority?

Carol Vacca: It was pretty much… I think we had a really strong presence and in this town we had about 7,000 people and about 10,000 in the time I grew up. And it was divided too between religions. My dad ran a funeral home and all of the Catholics and all the Czechs would go to him and then everybody else would go to the other funeral home. But it was a small community and a small town. My Father was very aware of differences and had his own prejudices, but he felt it
too.

UH Interviewer: So, since they tried to make you guys as integrated into the American culture as much as possible, was there a fusion in your childhood of some cultural traditions? Like how, you said you put out the shoes, did you also put up a Christmas tree?

Carol Vacca: Yes, oh yes, we did. We were very American. We, you know, growing up in the fifties we had TV. A big thing for us was all the different cereals that that came on. I can remember dad recalling, one of his earliest childhood memories was eating cornflakes straight out of the box. A packaged food, not sugared, but it was just like, popcorn he said. He recalled sitting on the steps at eating it right out of the box. He thought that was the greatest thing in the world.  For him growing up, they ate what they grew on the farm. Back then they grew everything. Not too many things were store bought then. They adapted a lot of things that were homegrown and homemade and things like that. But we integrated very well.

UH Interviewer: Do you wish that you had learned Czech growing up?

Carol Vacca: Yes, I really do. I mean, now learning it as an adult is well it's a hard language. Its very much like a Russian and I guess like German too. I tried learning German when I was in high school and college. I’m just not really good with languages, but If I learned it as a child, things would be better.

UH Interviewer: I understand that. I try to learn Spanish now.

Carol Vacca: Oh my gosh, I've tried to learn Spanish so many times.

UH Interviewer: It’s very hard. So, because you had that element missing, do you think with your own children, you tried to maybe integrate more Czech traditions?

Carol Vacca: Yes, I think so. We did it with Italian too with my husband. So, I wanted them to, learn about another culture or learn a language. It’s like adding more to your life. And I wanted them to be exposed to all those very rich traditions things.

UH Interviewer: So, what do you know like about your family history? Like before your grandfather and his family moved here?

Carol Vacca: We have done some family tree work with my mom and grandmothers’ side, they've traced it back into one little village and, and almost like four or five generations. What was interesting is those people did not go very far from their home their whole life. They usually wound up marrying somebody in the village or maybe next door. They did not travel; their whole life was in this very small area. And to see them expand like a little bit, each generation and then finally make that leap over is amazing. The house there, you know, is still there. In fact I'm going to a reunion tomorrow in Praha, which is a Czech community. There's hardly anything there except for the church and the gas station now. But it was a thriving community.

UH Interviewer: Do you ever go back?

Carol Vacca: I've been once, but we didn't go back to that particular area, but just generally in the area and then Prague, although we didn't stay in Prague very long. It was wonderful that my mom went, two of my sisters went and my daughter. So we had three generations there. It was a tour coming out of Dallas. Dallas is a sister city to Brno, which is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. We went to the Brno area which was in Moravia, Which are where my people from. We went mainly to the little cities, little towns around there. It was after Christmas time and they celebrate Christmas to January 6th, so everything was decorated. We went to Christmas concerts and everything. It was just really neat because we got to meet and see the people and the countryside. Looking at the countryside, you can see why those people chose this area. There's a lot in common, you know, with the hills and the even the soil. It’s a really good farming community, they have soil that is real popular, you know, the Gulf coast and then all the way up into central Texas and then even North of that. So most of the people came through here, stayed kind of in this area.

UH Interviewer: Have you been involved in diaspora events, here in the Czech Center?

Carol Vacca: It's interesting because, we have Czech people visiting here and people who have just come over and they're starting their life here. They're kind of amazed that we take such an interest in their culture. I mean, some people come in here and they say, Oh, y'all know more Czech history than we do and sometimes they know more. I didn't have any really deep understanding of it until I came here, because you don't really learn anything about Eastern European history. It was kind of interesting to hear their amazement like, God, man, you have Czech festivals and festivals still dress up in costume and dance around.

UH Interviewer: Um, how long have you been involved with the museum?

Carol Vacca: It's about, about nine years or so when I got more involved here. I came to some events and things like that, but then I started volunteering here, once a week and then regularly or twice a week.

UH Interviewer: What would you tell someone who wants to learn more about their heritage?

Carol Vacca: Start asking your grandparents right now about histories, and then write it down or record them. My mom now is the only one of three siblings left. And I just wish I would have asked my dad more about his family. I knew they did do some agriculture, but there were more tradesmen like construction, bricklaying, that kind of thing. And I don't know how my dad wound up as a mortician other than my grandfather was also in that business. Grandpa Triska. What’s interesting is my maiden name is Triska, T R I S K A. And the woman he married here, her last name was T R C K A Trcka.

UH Interviewer: Oh, he…

Carol Vacca: Yeah. And two very different, words and families. It was kind of strange. So they were, really the kind of the city people. My mom grew up in a small town called Shiner and she had two siblings. She decided she's going to become a nurse. She went over here to St Joe's and did nursing school and then she almost went into the army because they were paying better, and it was very patriotic. But she decided not to and wound up in the little town where my dad was at Nightingale hospital. He was a part of the funeral home at that point. He was also ambulance driver. That's how they met in the hospital.

UH Interviewer: Wow.

Carol Vacca: She was, she was engaged to somebody else.

UH Interviewer: Oh wow.

Carol Vacca: That's another story. He must've swept her off her feet.

UH Interviewer: Do you think like, do you know if she was engaged to someone else who was Czech? Was there a cultural commonality?

Carol Vacca: I don't know. El Campo was kind of a small town and back then, you sort of stayed in your groups. I don't know if my mom could tell me that. But she obviously had her eye on my dad. He had asked her to go to the movies and she couldn't for some reason, so he asked her best friend so it kind of made her mad. She found out when they were going. Then she disguised her voice and called the movie theater and said, this nurse was needed at the hospital for an emergency. So she broke up the date. So anyway, the rest is history.

UH Interviewer: Aww. Was she still friends with the girl?

Carol Vacca: I don't think so. It's a long time ago.

UH Interviewer: Yeah. What are your favorite traditions?

Carol Vacca: Well I guess families are really important. Living here we found a lot more traditions that my family never practiced. I'd think they'd be kind of cool to do. We usually celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. That's sort of a Czech thing because they celebrate, they do have a big celebration of Christmas Eve. They used to like, fast all day and then they'd go to midnight mass and have a big feast afterwards. We still try to do that today. We open presents on Christmas Eve. Now as, as the kids get older and they get married, it gets more complicated. I love the festivals and the music. Hearing the music especially, I guess I remember it as a, as a child, its very nostalgic and just really sweet to remember all those things. I guess maybe even associated with childhood and you know and the traditions too.

UH Interviewer: Do you cook it a lot?

Carol Vacca: Oh, well, it's kind of Texas Czech. If you go, to the Czech Republic now they have a lot of traditions of a very hearty meats, pork, all the different game, beef goulash. They have dumplings which is not like what we think of chicken and dumplings. They more spongy, its made out of flour and water, sometimes potato and water and you steam them, It's fluffy. And we had German potato salad with onions and bacon and all that good stuff. Then all the pastries and those are good.

UH Interviewer: Makes me hungry. Coming from a family that is not traditionally American, do you think that's like changed your worldview a bit?

Carol Vacca: Oh definitely yes, that has shaped it a great deal. I think I'm broad minded. I mean, I feel like I am more open minded.

UH Interviewer: Yeah, Thank you so much for your time. It was great getting to know you.