Holy Rosary Homecoming Saturday, March 25th, 2023

Since its dedication on July 4, 1920 Holy Rosary has nurtured its congregation and the Globeville neighborhood, generating lots of connections, memories and stories. Did you attend Holy Rosary Church? Or the school? Were your parents or grandparents married at Holy Rosary? Do you remember the sisters, priests or lay teachers who taught you? Are you a member of one of those families with eight or nine children who were connected to Holy Rosary? Or to those large numbers of cousins who called the parish home? Are you a current parishioner? Did your children attend religious education at Holy Rosary? Did you enjoy the many pancake breakfasts and visiting with folks? 

Those who attended the Holy Rosary Homecoming on October 2022 had a marvelous time and there will be another such event on Saturday, March 25th. 

We'll begin with Mass at 10:00 am in our historic church. The same statues, stations of the cross and the lighted rosary that inspired generations will bring back memories. Our exquisite stained glass windows cast reflections in the granite floor. After Mass, we'll gather in the school for refreshments (including Potica and pizzelles) and visiting with folks you haven't seen in awhile.

Gather those memories and photos and join us.
RSVP  maryloudesign@comcast.net
so we can have enough food!

the parish website  -  https://holyrosarydenver.com

our facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/HolyRosaryChurchDenver

The church has an accessible ramp in the front and the school has one on the south side.

Visiting Slovenia, July 2019

We began planning our trip in February and picked two weeks in the middle of July as the date all of us could go. We also met with my cousin, Ginny, a historian and museum curator, who had done a great deal of genealogy work on the Jakins and had names and birth dates of my grandfather’s brothers and sisters. Julie and Teresa contacted their cousins, Petra and Anja, who live in Ljubljana, hoping they could meet us there. Petra and Anja replied that they would delay their family vacation in Croatia to meet with us while we were in Ljubljana. Armed with genealogy information, we made our travel arrangements and hoped for the best.
We arrived in the capitol city late on Saturday evening, July 13 and received a text from Petra and Anja that they would be picking us up for Mass at 7:30 am the next morning! Introductions were made and we snuggled into a seven passenger Toyota for the trip to Gornje Cerovo, some 80 miles away. The cousins, Petra, Anja, Julie and Teresa recalled stories of their family: of an Aunt Lucille who visited Slovenia from Colorado in the 1980s, an Uncle Remigij who traveled to America during the 1970s, and of sixteen-year-old Petra’s vacation in Colorado in 1991. I listened to their memories while taking in the astounding countryside - green, dense forests, mountains, streams, hillsides dotted with villages and church spires. 

 

Lush countryside near Gornje Cerovo

I brought a folder with me, with the 1902 postcards from the Korsic family in Gornje (Upper) Cerovo to Johan Korsic and Andrej Jakin in Globeville, Kolorado. I included letters to Andrej from his sister Aloiza, dated 1948, and 1951, that were in Slovenian. I also had receipts of the money that Andrej sent to his family in “the old country,” the last one from 1920. And photos of Andrej Jakin. 
We arrived in Gornje Cerovo at 9:30 am and the small St. Nicholas Church was full. I was thrilled to hear Mass in my grandpa’s church and to walk in his village. The Mass was an annual memorial Mass for a cousin, Neva, who was killed in a car accident in 1995, so many family members were in attendance. Petra and Anja introduced all of us and I showed my photos and postcards - Ah! family. Introductions, smiles and hugs all around. An older couple, Aristeja and Alfonz Princic, lived next to the church and motioned us to come over - they were very interested in the stuff in my folder. They didn’t speak English, but asked us to return next Sunday where they would prepare a meal and bring out their photos. Although many of the younger family members speak English, most of the older people did not, but welcomed us into their homes....

 St. Nicholas Church in Gornje Cerovo
photo courtesy of Dejan Valentincic

Inside St. Nicholas Church in Gornje Cerovo

 

Side Altar in St. Nicholas Church

Aristeja and Alphonz (Fonze) Princic in Gornje (Upper) Cerovo

 

Nicknames in Globeville

Globeville was (and is) like a small town where everyone knew everyone else, a familiarity evident in the many nicknames given to people.
Joseph Yelenick remembered, "Everyone down here had a nickname. There were 'Buck' and 'Beans' Oletski, 'Dutch' Maier, 'Alias' Stefanski, 'Stash' (Stash is Polish for Stanley) Slovenski, 'Butch' Lunka, 'Too-tall' Vuksinich, 'Hawk-eye' Evanitich (because he couldn’t see very well), and 'Goose-eye' McGahan (because he was a great shot). Andy Jackson was 'Stonewall Jackson' because he had a military posture. There was a kid who played football in Wyoming that had such a long last name that they just called him 'Joe Alphabet'. There was 'Oogie' Ungehire, Johnny 'Chink' Horvat, and 'Butch' and 'Moose' Horvat."
Larry Summers added. "Cocky Spomer was a little fellow and that’s why they called him 'Cocky'. John Dreith was called 'Peggy' because he had a bad leg and Harold Schaffer was called 'Shugs'”.
 "Gas-pipe" Joe Grabrian was a plumber and "lead-pipe John" Predovich managed the Polish Hall. John Wysowatcky was known as "Smitty" and Father Jarzynski as "Father Jar." 
The nicknames were good-natured and well-meaning fun in a tight-knit community.


Top photo, John "Smitty" Wysowatcky
Bottom photo, Andy "Stonewall" Jackson