Florence Elizabeth Opiela

Florence Elizabeth Opiela

Florence Elizabeth Opiela of Gillett, Texas, while surrounded by her loving family, was called home by our Heavenly Father on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at the age of 92.

Florence was born on May 21, 1932, to Stanik and Eugenia Korzekwa in Kosciusko. She graduated from Poth High School in 1950, where she was a member of the Pirettes Pep Squad and volleyball team. On June 28, 1955, she married Adrian F. Opiela at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Kosciusko. Together they raised 5 children, supporting the family by farming and ranching.

Her life revolved around her faith. She was a parishioner of the Immaculate Conception Church in Panna Maria for 65 years. For many years, she arrived early for the Saturday evening Mass to lead the congregation in the Holy Rosary. Later in life, when she could no longer attend the Holy Mass in person, she watched daily Mass and the Holy Rosary on the EWTN network. She was proud to say that she never missed a day — except when being hospitalized.

She was a member of the Altar Society. In 2018, she received the Lumen Gentium Award from the Archdiocese of San Antonio for her talents in deepening the life of the parish church and serving the ministry in extraordinary ways.

She was also a member of the Panna Maria Historical Society. She enjoyed volunteering at the society’s visitor center, greeting guests from around the U.S. and foreign countries and discussing with them the history of her church and the historical settlement of Panna Maria. In 2013, she received the Outstanding Service Award from the Father Leopold Moczygemba Foundation, which promotes Polish heritage.

Florence’s greatest adventure was taking an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Israel, in 1999. An experience from the trip she loved to share was walking the Way of Sorrow down the streets of Jerusalem where she and others carried a large wooden cross on their right shoulders. This was symbolic of Jesus carrying His cross before His crucifixion. With a grin on her face, she liked to talk about something else she did on that trip … riding a camel! She described the trip as the experience of her lifetime.

One of Florence’s passions was her vegetable garden. Although it was a lot of hard work, she enjoyed every aspect of gardening — preparing the soil, planting the seeds, tending the growing plants, and harvesting. Sunday evenings she liked to sit in a rocking chair, next to her garden with a bowl of popcorn and just admire her garden. Family liked to tease her and ask if she could actually see the garden growing. She would just smile and say, “No, but I love my garden.”

This leads to another joy in her life, preserving fruits and vegetables. If it was a fruit or vegetable, she found a way to can, freeze, or preserve it. Some years when she produced a bumper crop of cucumbers, she would can 100+ quarts of pickles. She enjoyed making fruit jellies and preserves. Her family recalls when they were young, they would pick wild dewberries in the pastures for Mother to make dewberry jelly. She would also freeze fresh fruits, premeasured, to make homemade pies in the future. Have you ever tried a fig pie?

And what a wonderful cook she was! Florence cooked three meals a day for her family of seven. Beef was frequently prepared as Florence and her husband, Adrian, raised cattle. Vegetables from her garden were always present. And desserts — never a shortage of yeast breads, cakes, pies, or cookies.

Florence was known for her coffee cakes. While she was able, every year for the annual Panna Maria Turkey Dinner, she made many coffee cakes to be sold at the cake stand. Some attendees would place advance orders for her coffee cakes so that when her coffee cakes arrived at the cake stand, most had been pre-sold!

Florence was a gifted seamstress. She learned to sew as a child, and this talent served her well later in life, as with raising four daughters there were endless requests for new outfits. She made it all, including prom and bridesmaid’s dresses.

Florence loved to crochet. Her Christmas tree was a sight to behold because the green of the tree could barely be seen since the tree was decorated with all the ornaments she had crocheted — snowflakes, angels (flat and 3-D), 3-D bells, doves, hearts, and crosses. She made thousands of pieces that she shared with family and friends and sold at the Panna Maria Historical Society Visitor Center. It gave her great pleasure to know that her crochet pieces are scattered around the U.S. and Europe, especially Poland.

Mary Felux Opiela, Florence’s mother-in-law, told her that if all the crochet items she made were unraveled, the thread would stretch to Heaven. Considering that Mary passed in 1994 and all the crochet work Florence did since then, we could say now that the thread would stretch to Heaven and back!

She loved to tell the story of how she learned to crochet. She said that when the creeks and rivers flooded so that she could not make it home from high school, she would spend nights with her Uncle Bonnie and Auntie Clara Skrobarczyk in Poth. During those stays there, it was Uncle Bonnie’s mother, Frances, who taught her to crochet.

She is survived by her children, Elsie Mae Opiela of Austin, Arleen Ann Roberts of Austin, Linda Lou Opiela of Weesatche, Adrian Opiela Jr. of Gillett, and Norma Jean Miller (Jerry) of Georgetown; and six grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Adrian F. Opiela; and siblings infant Regina, Rosie Labus, Theresa Pawelek, Agnes Gawlik, and Stanley Korzekwa.

A note of gratitude to Father Wieslaw Iwaniec for his visits to Florence’s home and the hospitals, as well as caregivers Autumn Oliver and Becky Waters, who provided outstanding care to “Ms. Florence.”

A visitation was held on Tuesday, Aug. 27, from 5-7 p.m., in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Panna Maria. A rosary was recited at 7 p.m. that evening.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, at 10 a.m., in the church.

Burial will follow at the Panna Maria Cemetery in Panna Maria. Father Wieslaw Iwaniec will officiate the services.