WINNEMUCCA - Deciding what to do after retirement is something pre-retirees contemplate regularly.
Milo Krupicka, 86, had decided he would probably find another job to keep busy with as he retired at 54. But as happens so often, life came along and now he finds himself busy helping his son work on his drag racer and in general doing what needs to be done every day.
"The time just goes by. It's Monday and two days later it's Monday again," he said. He noted that the weeks have flown by since he retired as he has kept busy.
His father arrived in the United States at the age of three from what is now the Czech Republic. Although Krupicka has never visited his ancestral home, his parents used the language in their house and any part of the language he may have known disappeared when he started school in his birthplace of Omaha, Neb.
"Almost every Sunday we ate sauerkraut, dumplings and roast pork," he said, and he never got tired of it.
Turns out that the 6-foot, 2 1/2-inch Krupicka and school were destined not to be the best of friends and getting by was all that really interested him.
"I just went cause I had to go," he admitted. "I did mostly shop stuff." Any sports he played were after school with neighborhood kids. "We did all kinds of mischievous stuff," he said.
"I kick myself now," he said. "I wish I would've had a brain.
He didn't have much of an interest in girls during his school years. "I hated girls. It seemed like they were always in the way," Krupicka said. "Of course, I had a sister (Dorothy) and we always fought" (usually over doing the dishes). Naturally, today they are best friends.
Oh, and that hating girls thing. That seems to have disappeared during his single years as he traveled for his job with Western Electric since he had one in every port.
"There was one in Minnesota and one in South Dakota. All these towns, see," he said.
He ended up working for Western Electric for 36 years installing central office equipment in telephone company buildings primarily in the Midwest, but as far away as New York for Northwestern Bell.
"I even worked on these TV towers across the state of Nebraska," he said. He had to walk up several stories of stairs to the top of the towers where the equipment was.
As a forward thinking individual, after graduating from high school in 1944 he realized working for Western Electric before joining the war effort in the Pacific would guarantee him a job when he got out. The company turned out to be his only employer outside the Naval Reserves.
A cousin had told him about how hard it was in basic training in the Army, so Krupicka decided the Navy might suit him better. "At least you got three meals a day in the Navy and you could take a bath," he said.
Circumstances came together to allow him to become a baker while he was stationed on Guam. Japan had surrendered before he got to his duty station and he ended up serving all his military service on the island. There he ended up cleaning latrines and policing the grounds, so when he discovered they might be looking for a baker he applied.
"It was good. I liked doing that," he said. Although working around those ovens was a little hot he enjoyed the job.
Outdoor movies were a special time for those stationed on Guam and not only for Americans. "When the movie was over, the lights would go on and we'd see these guys runnin'. They were the Japanese. They'd come in and watch the movie and when the lights would go on they'd take off!" he said. A few Japanese soldiers did not believe the war was over.
He met his wife, Dolores Pilney, several years after the war. He saw her at a cousin's mock wedding and although they had talked some it still took an aunt's encouragement to get him to call her. They were married just shortly before he turned 30.
He lost his wife to Alzheimer's a few months ago and is still adjusting to life without his mate of 57 years. She was 81. "I miss her," he said.
Their son, Mike Krupicka, was interested in law enforcement for many years and ended up taking a job in Las Vegas with his parents right behind. Then Mike shifted over to Henderson, Nev., and from there to Winnemucca. So they lived in the Vegas area for 17 years and now have 15 years in Winnemucca.
He likes Winnemucca, but would like to have more choices of restaurants and maybe a large hardware store. He very much likes the lesser traffic.
"I do have a bone with everybody here. The drivers. You've got the lousiest drivers here. Vegas wasn't as bad as the drivers are here," he said.
The Pleasant Senior Center is a favorite of his for food and friends. "It's good. That's why I go there. You can't find a restaurant that cooks that good," he said.
And he doesn't mind trying his luck in the casinos on occasion. Also, the scenery, in particular the sunsets when there's a few clouds in the sky always catches his eye. "It's real pretty," he said. "My wife, she really liked it here."
He now has a riding lawn mower to take care of his yard. "It takes me half an hour," he said. Although cleaning the machine takes another half an hour.
To teens everywhere he said stay away from gambling, don't drink and ignore peer pressure. And to teenage girls, he would encourage them to avoid getting pregnant before marriage and make sure a potential suitor has a job and will be able to take care of them before getting married.
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