Adalyne "Addie" Svoboda

Adalyne "Addie" M. Svoboda, 91, died Saturday, June 26, 2021, at Emerald Care and Nursing in Columbus.

Mass of Christian Burial is 11:00 AM Thursday, July 1, 2021, at St. Isidore Catholic Church. Visitation is Wednesday from 5:00-7:00 PM with a 7:00 PM vigil service at McKown Funeral Home. Private family interment is in Roselawn Cemetery.

The Funeral Mass will be broadcast live on the McKown Funeral Home Facebook page. Click here to go to the McKown Funeral Home Facebook page.

She was born Jan. 6, 1930, to Jerry and Mae Holeka. This farm girl graduated from Brainard High; and, at the age of 20, married Ernest Svoboda. The two officially gained baseball-team status, becoming a family of 9 with their seven children – Debra, Terrence, Jeffrey, Scott, Robert, Rodney, and Kim.

Seven. Children. That's a lot of kids. And five boys? That would be enough to overwhelm most, burying one in a full-time job of laundry, patching bloody noses, breaking up fights – but not Addie. Hard work didn't scare her. She entered the workforce at an Osceola nursing home, dedicated to helping its residents, and then spent the rest of her working career at Dale Electronics before retiring.

She was a social butterfly who relished good company. She was a beloved member of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, serving a term as their president, as a chaplain, and was once honored with their Grandmother and Mother of the Year Award. She was also a committed member of the American Legion Auxiliary and a devoted St. Isidore Catholic Church attendee.

She was a voracious reader, devouring anything from mystery novels to Christian books to tacky romance rags. She was a sucker for any game show she could find on TV, a word-search book extraordinaire, a garage sale aficionado, and she never crossed paths with a piece of jewelry she didn't love. She could cut a rug with the best of 'em and never passed up a chance to dance the "Chicken Polka." Her quick wit, made even quicker with her signature rum and Cokes, was unmatched.

The legacy she leaves behind is eclectic and varied. She single-handedly boosted the record sales of Conway Twitty by converting a younger generation of family into fans. Her recipe cards will be flipped through by the fingers of family, searching for cravings of her famous pumpkin pie, potato soup, cream cucumbers, and her fabled breakfast schmöder. Czech curse words will live on, being uttered through the lips of her adoring legion of grandchildren.

But more importantly, her legacy lies within the light that radiated from her entire being. Her outright coolness, her unexpected hilarity, her accepting nature, her unwavering compassion, her unapologetic sassiness – they'll forever shine on in the stories her children tell their children, who tell their children, who tell their children. Her body may be gone, but make no mistake – the legendary spirit that is Addie Svoboda will outlive any person reading this obituary.

She is survived by her children, Debra (Gene) Limbach, Columbus; Terrence Svoboda, Clay Center, KS; Jeffrey (Kathy) Svoboda, Hutto, TX; Scott Svoboda, Columbus; Robert (Debbie) Svoboda, Tom's River, NJ; Rodney (Sandra) Svoboda, Omaha; and Kim (Jeff) Liebig, Columbus; her brothers, Gary (Roberta) Holeka, Brainard; Reynold (Helen) Holeka, Brainard; 21 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, and Ernest Svoboda.

In between all the services, please join her family in all their sure-to-be shenanigans, raising glasses of rum and Coke to honor a woman known for raising a little hell – a woman they will so fiercely miss.