John F. Kennedy, Dr. E. E. Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey
(obituary from the New Prague Times)
Dr. E. E. Novak, Physician, Educator, Farm Leader Dies
Funeral services for Dr. Edward E. Novak will be held this afternoon. (Thursday), at the Bruzek Funeral Home in New Prague. Masonic rites will be conducted by King Hiram Lodge 31, A.F. & A.M., with Ralph Schuttee of Jordan in charge, internment will be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
His death occurred at 2:45 a.m. on Monday, March 7 (1966) at Lucas (?) Convalescent Hospital in Faribault, where he had been a resident for several months. He was 92 years and 10 months old. Edward Novak was born on April 29, 1873, in Johnson County, the son of Frank Novak and Mrs. Barbara Hajek Novak. His parents were natives of Bohemia. He attended the Iowa City Academy and later attended the University of Iowa, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1895.
Shortly after graduation, Dr. Novak came to New Prague, (on his 22nd birthday) and established an office in private practice, where he served as a rural practitioner for 70 years.
Novak was a member of the Minnesota State Medical Association and of the Scott-Carver Medical Society. He was a staff member in surgery of Queen of Peace Hospital and he was also on the staff of Valleyview Hospital at Jordan. Dr. Novak was honored as "Doctor of the Year" by the Minnesota State Medical Association, in 1954.
In his earlier days of practice, he frequently used a bicycle in attending his professional calls, the principal mode of travel was by horse-drawn buggy and.......... He was an enthusiastic horseman, and kept a stable of 4 or 5 purebred driving teams, and his buggies and saddles were custom-made to fit the needs and to cope with the difficult driving conditions of adverse weather and bad roads.
Dr. Novak was one the first automobile owners in Southern Minnesota. His first automobile was a high-wheeled Horsman and was designed much like buggies of that era.
On one occasion, when questioned about outstanding experiences in his medical practices, Dr. Novak surmised that the diphtheria scourge of 1893 to 1896 was a challenging initiation to medical practice, when tracheotomy was(?) resorted to frequently under emergency conditions to save the life of children now grown to middle(?) age. Ranking with that, the many experiences of "kitchen table" surgery in rural areas, in emergencies, which did not permit removal of the patient.
The number of babies brought in the world by Dr. Novak as attending physician would populate a fair-sized little city. Dr. Novak estimated the number at close to 7,000.
Throughout the years, Dr. Novak continued his study not only medical centers in this country, but also at world famous clinics and medical schools in Prague, Vienna, and other medical centers of Europe.
For 42 years, Doctor Novak served as a member of the Board of Education at New Prague, officiating as president of the board during most of that time. He was a past-president of the Le Sueur County School Board Assn. and of the Scott-Carver School Board Assn. He was president of the Minnesota State School Board Assn. in 1935-36, and he received the Distinguished Service Award of the Minnesota Educational Assn, and the National School Service Institute in 1944.
Elected to the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1939, Dr. Novak served ably in that honored and responsible capacity until 1957. In addition to the schools of medical science, Dr. Novak took keen interest in the College of Agriculture, the Duluth Branch of the University and in the Waseca School of Agriculture.
Early in his career, Dr. Novak began the purchase of the famed Redvue Farms near New Prague, where he continued the pursuit of agriculture, not only as an avocation, but as a sound business operation. He was one of the foremost breeders of Red-Polled cattle in the United States, and his fame as a Red-Polled breeder was international in scope. He was president of the American Red Poll Cattle Club for many years.
Doctor Novak was one of the founders and the first president of the New Prague, Creamery Association, in 1912. He was also the founder and first president of the Southern Minnesota Livestock Show at New Prague and he served as president of the Minnesota Livestock Breeders Association. He was named Premier breeder of Red Poll at the 1937 Minn. State Fair.
Back in 1903, Dr. Novak was one of the founders of the First National Bank of New Prague, and he served as vice-president of that institution for a quarter of a century. He was elected to the presidency of the State Bank of New Prague, in 1933, retiring from that position in January of 1965.
He was mayor of New Prague for two terms, and was a president of the New Prague Community Club, the Lincoln Club, and other civic organizations. He was an honorary member of the New Prague Rotary Club.
Dr. Novak was a member of Le Sueur Chapter 37 Royal Arch Masons, Ivanhoe Commandery No. 31 Knights Templar of St. Peter, and Zuhrah Shrine Temple of Minneapolis.
Always interested in and active in public affairs, Dr. Novak found time to devote to political events. He was chairman of Le Sueur County Democratic Committee in 1932, and that year he was one of the presidential electors to cast Minnesota votes in the national electoral college, for president and vice president of the United States. Drafted by a state endorsing convention, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of Minnesota.
Dr. Novak also traveled extensively on the continent of Europe, in South America and in all sections of the United States.
He was married at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 27, 1911, to Marie A. Vondracek, a noted Cedar Rapids educator. Mrs. Novak died in December, 1942.
He is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Ray Millette (Olga Marie) of Arlington, VA: by a son, Edward E. Novak, Jr.; by 5 grandchildren: and by a sister, Mrs. Alice Long of Pittsburgh, Ps.
Four brothers, Joseph, Frank, John and Charles Novak and three sisters, Mrs. Emma Thomas, Mrs. Barbara Tehel and Tillie Novak, are deceased.
