09/04/2019 - Zdenka 'Zee' Uridil

Graveside services for 97-year old Zdenka “Zee” Uridil will be held September 4, 2019 at the Abie Cemetery in Abie, NE.

Visitation will be held at the Kracl Funeral Home in David City, NE on September 3, 2019 at 6:00 PM, but visitation services will also be held at Chamberlain Chapel in Chadron, NE, on Wednesday August 28, 2019 at 6:00 PM.

A memorial has been established. Please make donations to Friends of Pets in Chadron, the Chadron Senior Center, or the Ponderosa Villa.

Zee was born to Joseph and Rose (Sedlacek) Zeleny on March 29, 1922 on a farm near Bruno, Ne, and passed away on August 23, 2019 at the Ponderosa Villa in Crawford, NE, her home for the past 4 1/2 years.

 Zee grew up in the Abie area and attended the Lincoln Beauty Academy to become a hairdresser.  She married Jerome Chester Uridil on September 4, 1948, and they had one daughter, Sandra Jo.

Jerome was an installer for Western Electric, part of AT&T, and they lived in many Nebraska towns due to his work, along with doing a 6-month tour in New York City, before moving permanently to the Chadron area in 1968. 

Having never finished high school, Zee began to work on her GED program and received her diploma in 1971. After her husband passed away in 1972, Zee began to work with the ABE/GED program, working with those working toward their GED diplomas, and also gave GED tests. 

At age 49, Zee started her college career taking classes at CSC, Central Missouri State University, and graduating from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Adult Education. Zee felt very proud of this achievement.
   
When Zee retired, she enjoyed her hobbies of photography, for which she won many awards, stamp collecting, and bird watching.

Zee felt she was blessed to live close to her grandson Robert, spending many hours playing with him, and enjoyed her extended family of step-grandchildren and their families, which provided her with great grandchildren, and a great-great grandson.

During her later years she also traveled to Czechoslovakia twice, and went to Alaska, once on a cruise, and once driving the Alaskan Highway, spending 7 weeks on the road.

Zee is survived by daughter Sandra; grandson Robert; nephews, a niece, and their families; and step-grandchildren and their families. She was preceded in death by husband, Jerome; parents Joseph and Rose Zeleny; sister Vlasta Krivanek; and nephew Larry Dolezal.
   
Zee had seen many changes in her lifetime and often remarked that she thinks her years have been the best to be alive for.