Cecelia Padavich's Obituary
Cecelia Padavich was born in Rathbun, Iowa on September 22, 1912 to Joe and Eva (Zubernick) Briskey. She left this mortal existence February 17, 2009 in Tampa, FL.
Cecelia had four brothers (George, Tony, Victor, and Julio Briskey) and three sisters (Anna Briskey, Mary Snyder, and Katherine Kauzlarich), all deceased. She married Albert Padavich on November 16, 1940 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Kirksville, Missouri. Albert predeceased her on August 1, 2003. She is survived by sisters-in-laws, Josephine Blozovich and Lena Padavich, and numerous nieces and nephews. Cecelia and Albert left Iowa in the early 1950's and moved to Pickstown, So. Dakota where he worked on the Ft. Randall Dam Project and Cecelia began her lifelong career in private-duty nursing. Several years later they moved to So. Carolina and then to Florida in 1954. They returned to Centerville after retirement and lived there until Albert's death. Cecelia then returned to Florida to live with her niece Jeanie Blozovich Russo and her husband Pat. Cecelia was a gourmet cook who loved big family dinners. Her large heart matched her smile as she prepared her favorite Croation dishes. Cecelia will always be rembered for her love of life and her words ""BE HAPPY"". I am standing upon that foreshore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails in the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, ""There! She's gone!"" ""Gone where?"" ""Gone from my sight, that's all."" She is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at that moment when someone at my side says, ""There! She's gone!"" there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, ""Here she comes!""
Mass of the Resurrection will be held Thursday, March 26, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Centerville with Father Dennis Schaab officiating. Pallbearers will be Ron Padavich, Jerry Butler, and Pat Russo. Rosary Service will be held at 6 p.m. followed by visitation on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at Lange Funeral Home. A memorial has been established to the St. Mary's Catholic Church and may be left at or mailed to the Lange Funeral Home, 1900 S. 18th St., Centerville, IA 52544. Condolences may be left online at www.thomaslangefuneralhome.com.
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