Anita R. Strnad

Anita Rose Rundus Strnad was born October 1, 1936 in Kipp, Kansas.  She was the daughter of Reverand Benjamin A. Rundus and Josphine Hubka Rundus.  She passed away on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at her home in Munden, Kansas.  Her father was a Presbyterian minister and served churches in the United States and Canada during her childhood.  She lived in Kipp, Kansas, then moved to Unidilla, Nebraska.  From there to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where parents worked with Czech refugees from Europe.  Then the family moved to Eagle, South Dakota and from there to Omaha, Nebraska to serve the Czech Presbyterian Church there.  In 1943 they moved to Tabor, South Dakota where they settled for the next six years.  In 1948 the family moved to Rossville, KS and then to Scottsville, KS where she attended Jamestown High School for one year.  She graduated from Munden High School with the class of 1954 after she and her brothers moved to the family farm west of Munden.  She lived there until her marriage to Henry Strnad on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1954 at the Munden Presbyterian Church in Munden, officiated by her father.  Three daughters were born to this marriage, Benita Strnad, Rebecca Craig, and Beverly Richardson.  In addition, in 1962 Anita and her husband provided a home for Henry’s cousin, Victor M. Strnad.  

Her Christian faith and her church were the center of her life from the beginning to the end. She was active in two churches: The Zion Evangelical Church of Munden and the Danish Lutheran Sunday School where she assisted her husband when they answered the call to be a lay pastor in 1958.  They ministered faithfully to this congregation until 2006 when regular services at the little, country church were discontinued.  In 48 years serving that community, lifelong friendships and Christian ties were established and maintained that were a sustaining part of Anita’s life.  She also accompanied her husband when he filled the pulpits of other churches throughout North Central Kansas and South-Central Nebraska.  As an active member of the church in Munden, Anita served as a Sunday School teacher and founded and directed the Junior/Children’s Choir.  She was proud of her Czech heritage and was an active member of the Republic County Czech Club for many years.   She and her husband were lifetime members of the National Farmers Union and she served as a delegate of farm wives who made a trip to Washington, D. C. in the 1970’s to lobby for a better farm policy.  In her later years she also served on the Munden City Council.  

 In her lifetime Anita had many roles.  Before her marriage to Henry, Anita worked as a Nurse’s Aide at the old Republic County Hospital when it was on the main street of Belleville.  Later in life, she began working on a lifelong dream to become a nurse.  While taking classes at Cloud County Community College, she was one of just a few students who passed Anatomy and Physiology on the first try, while working full time as a certified Nurse’s Aide at the nursing home in Belleville.  She deeply cared about the welfare of people of all classes and was willing to help where there was need.  A special gift of hers was to help those who were suffering physical or mental anguish.  She had an active interest in local and state politics where it intersected with social policy and its effects on the lives of rural women and children.  Because she suffered from Depression herself, she became an early promoter of mental health organizations and services in the area.   She was employed by Hospice and the Area Agency on Aging serving in many capacities with those organizations when they were first starting up in this region of Kansas.  She was a homemaker, helpmate, mother, seamstress, and had an open door to the other wives in the community with her home serving as a clearing house for a multitude of children and young people for many years.  This love of young people continued as she grew older and eagerly anticipated the afternoon visits of her Great nephews Trivit and Tyde Rundus, and her friend Asher Rundus.  They provided her with many hours of interesting commentary, entertainment, and activity.

Even though she did not attend college herself, or get any higher degrees, she encouraged the educational endeavors of her children, friends, and acquaintances.  It did not matter to her the level or degree pursued, it was the furtherance and expansion of the self that she thought important.    

She was crafty and loved to sew and embroider, which stayed with her to the end of her life.  Her closets are still full of various garments she sewed for herself and her children.  

She loved to travel and her husband often said that if you said the word “Go” you would find that she was already gone.   The travels ranged from perusing implement dealerships and getting implement parts, to seeing Grand Coulee Dam being built on a trip to Washington State in 1954.  Only her niece, Jolene Strnad has probably seen more John Deere and implement dealers in the Central part of the U.S.  Her travels eventually took her to Germany and the “Old Country” where she visited Velim, Bohemia in the Czech Republic, the village from which the Strnad’s immigrated in 1861. 

She is preceded in death by her husband, Henry Strnad, her parents, her brothers, Benjamin Herbert Rundus and Wesley Frank Rundus; her sister Faith Marie Rundus Bishop; and son-in-law, Robert (Bobby) Craig, Jr.  She will be remembered by her daughters Benita Strnad, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Rebecca Craig, Munden, Kansas, Beverly Richardson and husband Peter, Bozeman, Montana; grandchildren Robert C. Craig III of Atkinson, Nebraska, Charlsie Craig McKay and husband Turner, of Culleoka, Tennessee, and Emily Richardson of Bozeman, Montana; great-granddaughter, Levy McKay of Culleoka, Tennessee; Sister Josephine Strnad of Munden, Kansas and brother, Dr. Timothy Rundus and wife Linda, of Chandler, Arizona; sisters-in-law, Mary Strnad Rundus of Munden, Kansas and Cheryl Thomas Strnad Runft, Belleville, Kansas; brother-in-law, William Taylor, Jr. of Pekin, Illinois; and a large number of nieces and nephews.    

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at the Zion Evangelical Church in Munden, Kansas with a sunset burial at Tabor Cemetery, rural Munden following the service.  

A prayer service will be held at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, January 24, at the Zion Evangelical Church in Munden. Friends may sign Anita’s register book on Wednesday from 9am – 4pm, at Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home. 

Memorials to Zion Evangelical Church are requested sent to Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home, PO Box 566, Belleville, KS 66935.

Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home is assisting the Strnad Family with arrangements, www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com.