Herschel Stehlik receives posthumous recognition
February 10, 2021
Sheila Harris
At Cassville’s Monday night city council meeting, Corky and Brian Stehlik were presented with a plaque recognizing their father and grandfather, Herschel Stehlik, as a prominent citizen of Cassville. Herschel passed away peacefully in his home on January 15 of this year, after making his mark on Cassville for over half a century.
Raised in the small town of Phenix, near Walnut Grove, Herschel Stehlik was the son and grandson of Czech immigrants on his father’s side.
“My dad spoke fluent Czechoslovakian, but he wanted us kids to speak English at home,” Herschel recalls, in an interview given for Lifetimes of Memories, Voices of Barry County.
Stehlik says his mother met his father in the same small town of Phenix, where their fathers worked together in the town’s marble quarry. He found it interesting that his Czechoslovakian grandfather also worked for some kind of gravel quarry before he immigrated to the United States.
“My dad and my grandfather were always talking about rocks,” Stehlik said.
After serving in the Korean War, Stehlik came home and married Della Mae Jones in 1948, then went to work for Westside Lumber, then Meek’s Lumber, in Springfield, and was later transferred to the management of the Monett store in 1954.
When Meek’s did some corporate restructuring a few years later, they wanted Stehlik to move to the bootheel of Missouri, but neither he nor Della had the stomach for it. They opted, instead, to open their own lumber yard - Barry County Lumber, in Cassville, in 1958 - a decision which proved providential for both the Stehliks and the community.
Hershel and Della Stehlik called Cassville their home for the remainder of their lives. They enjoyed running Barry County Lumber until 1994, when they opted to sell and retire.
Herschel was a deacon and elder at First Christian Church and served on the church building committee. He proudly served on the Board of Directors at Freedom Bank for many years. He was devoted to bettering his community and serving anyway he could. He was a member of the Industrial Development Corporation, Cassville Chamber of Commerce, and, in 2002, was awarded the Cassville Chamber Lifetime Achievement Award.
Herschel loved bird dogs, bird hunting, and was an avid fisherman, and enjoyed days at the lake teaching his kids and grandkids to fish. According to those who knew him, he was humble, kind, loving, generous, polite and friendly and had an unwavering commitment to his faith, family, friends, and his community.
His legacy will long live on in Cassville and with his family. Herschel and Della Stehlik are the parents of two children, six grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Sheila Harris
At Cassville’s Monday night city council meeting, Corky and Brian Stehlik were presented with a plaque recognizing their father and grandfather, Herschel Stehlik, as a prominent citizen of Cassville. Herschel passed away peacefully in his home on January 15 of this year, after making his mark on Cassville for over half a century.
Raised in the small town of Phenix, near Walnut Grove, Herschel Stehlik was the son and grandson of Czech immigrants on his father’s side.
“My dad spoke fluent Czechoslovakian, but he wanted us kids to speak English at home,” Herschel recalls, in an interview given for Lifetimes of Memories, Voices of Barry County.
Stehlik says his mother met his father in the same small town of Phenix, where their fathers worked together in the town’s marble quarry. He found it interesting that his Czechoslovakian grandfather also worked for some kind of gravel quarry before he immigrated to the United States.
“My dad and my grandfather were always talking about rocks,” Stehlik said.
After serving in the Korean War, Stehlik came home and married Della Mae Jones in 1948, then went to work for Westside Lumber, then Meek’s Lumber, in Springfield, and was later transferred to the management of the Monett store in 1954.
When Meek’s did some corporate restructuring a few years later, they wanted Stehlik to move to the bootheel of Missouri, but neither he nor Della had the stomach for it. They opted, instead, to open their own lumber yard - Barry County Lumber, in Cassville, in 1958 - a decision which proved providential for both the Stehliks and the community.
Hershel and Della Stehlik called Cassville their home for the remainder of their lives. They enjoyed running Barry County Lumber until 1994, when they opted to sell and retire.
Herschel was a deacon and elder at First Christian Church and served on the church building committee. He proudly served on the Board of Directors at Freedom Bank for many years. He was devoted to bettering his community and serving anyway he could. He was a member of the Industrial Development Corporation, Cassville Chamber of Commerce, and, in 2002, was awarded the Cassville Chamber Lifetime Achievement Award.
Herschel loved bird dogs, bird hunting, and was an avid fisherman, and enjoyed days at the lake teaching his kids and grandkids to fish. According to those who knew him, he was humble, kind, loving, generous, polite and friendly and had an unwavering commitment to his faith, family, friends, and his community.
His legacy will long live on in Cassville and with his family. Herschel and Della Stehlik are the parents of two children, six grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Pictured above, Herschel and Della Stehlik in a 1983 photo, courtesy of the Barry County Museum.
Corky Stehlik (left) and Brian Stehlik (right) accept the plaque presented by the City of Cassville, honoring their father and grandfather, Herschel Stehlik, as a "Prominent Citizen of Cassville."
