In Her Own Words
In Prague, CZ it is:
Mary (Brabec) Cinfel, 2005 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen Reflects on her experience as a Queen
Growing up in Clarkson Nebraska, Czech heritage is a way of life, even if you don’t know it. Family gatherings, pot lucks and other social events are always teeming with Czech culture. Czech food, music and the spirit of the Czech people are always present. My heritage has always been of great significance to me. As a young child I joined the Children’s Beseda Group (Czech dancing) and every year as a young girl I would help the Clarkson Women’s Club with their Czech Baking Demonstration.
During my junior year of high school I decided to apply for the Clarkson Czech Queen Pageant. There were four of us in the pageant that year, all of us wanting to represent our heritage, families, and town. I did not win the Clarkson pageant, but lucky for me there was a wonderful couple from Prague, Nebraska in the crowd. Mr. Adolph and Gladys Nemec approached me after the pageant and they asked me to be their chapter Queen. In April 2005 I was crowned the Prague Chapter Czech Queen.
Even though I didn’t know it at the time, being crowned the Prague Chapter Czech Queen was one of the most significant moments of my life. Meeting the Nemecs was like gaining another set of grandparents and their lovely granddaughter was my princess. I traveled to the Omaha, Lincoln and South Central Czech festivals where I met other like minded girls (chapter queens) interested in their heritage and a need to share their heritage with others.
The Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen Pageant was such a blast! For me it wasn’t about the competition, it was about having fun, making new friends and informing people about my heritage and learning about others as well. I think the most surprising moment of the whole weekend was the crowning. All of the awards were handed out except the queen title. I did not win any of the categories, but I was thinking to myself, I had such so much fun, I know I am going to do this again next year. As next year was already going through my mind, the emcee announced the winner the new Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen title, and to my extreme surprise, it was me.
After the pageant, the year to follow as a blur of parades and Czech Festivals, not only in Nebraska, but also in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. I met so many interesting people sharing my heritage as I went.
After graduating from high school in 2006, I attended Northeast Community College and Wayne State College where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Accounting. At Wayne State College I was a dorm hall president for a year. During this time I had a social with Czech Culture and food. A week after graduation in 2010, I married my high school sweet heart and we now recently moved back to our home town of Clarkson.
Preserving our Czech-Slovak culture is extremely important to me; so much in fact that in 2010 I joined the Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen Pageant Committee and I am now the current chair. My hope is to educate as many people and young people about exploring their heritage and learning more about their culture.
*A very special thank you to my mom, dad, husband, brother, sister and sister-in-law and my supporting extended family for all their help in my journey. I would not have gotten as far without their love and support.
Click here to read where Brandy (Beekley) VanDeWalle's experience as the 1998 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen took her!
Click here to read where Carrie Brown's experience as the 2008 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen took her!
During my junior year of high school I decided to apply for the Clarkson Czech Queen Pageant. There were four of us in the pageant that year, all of us wanting to represent our heritage, families, and town. I did not win the Clarkson pageant, but lucky for me there was a wonderful couple from Prague, Nebraska in the crowd. Mr. Adolph and Gladys Nemec approached me after the pageant and they asked me to be their chapter Queen. In April 2005 I was crowned the Prague Chapter Czech Queen.
Even though I didn’t know it at the time, being crowned the Prague Chapter Czech Queen was one of the most significant moments of my life. Meeting the Nemecs was like gaining another set of grandparents and their lovely granddaughter was my princess. I traveled to the Omaha, Lincoln and South Central Czech festivals where I met other like minded girls (chapter queens) interested in their heritage and a need to share their heritage with others.
The Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen Pageant was such a blast! For me it wasn’t about the competition, it was about having fun, making new friends and informing people about my heritage and learning about others as well. I think the most surprising moment of the whole weekend was the crowning. All of the awards were handed out except the queen title. I did not win any of the categories, but I was thinking to myself, I had such so much fun, I know I am going to do this again next year. As next year was already going through my mind, the emcee announced the winner the new Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen title, and to my extreme surprise, it was me.
After the pageant, the year to follow as a blur of parades and Czech Festivals, not only in Nebraska, but also in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. I met so many interesting people sharing my heritage as I went.
After graduating from high school in 2006, I attended Northeast Community College and Wayne State College where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Accounting. At Wayne State College I was a dorm hall president for a year. During this time I had a social with Czech Culture and food. A week after graduation in 2010, I married my high school sweet heart and we now recently moved back to our home town of Clarkson.
Preserving our Czech-Slovak culture is extremely important to me; so much in fact that in 2010 I joined the Miss Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen Pageant Committee and I am now the current chair. My hope is to educate as many people and young people about exploring their heritage and learning more about their culture.
*A very special thank you to my mom, dad, husband, brother, sister and sister-in-law and my supporting extended family for all their help in my journey. I would not have gotten as far without their love and support.
Click here to read where Brandy (Beekley) VanDeWalle's experience as the 1998 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen took her!
Click here to read where Carrie Brown's experience as the 2008 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen took her!
Mary (Brabec) Cinfel
2005 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen
2005 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen
Cinfel Family
