In late April, members of the Geer family from New Castle, Pa., the descendants of late longtime SNPJ members JOSEPH and MARY SWELFER VIVODA, made a presentation of two plaques to the SNPJ Slovenian Heritage Center in the Borough of SNPJ, Pa. The plaques, designed by Audrey Jane Geer Masalehdan, trace the Vivoda and Swelfer family lineages, noting the family union through Joseph and Mary’s marriage.

BOROUGH OF SNPJ, Pa. — On April 25, Lillian Louise Vivoda Geer presented two plaques in memory of her parents, Joseph Vivoda and Mary Swelfer Vivoda, to SNPJ at the Slovenian Heritage Center.

Joseph Vivoda was born in 1888 in Cerknica, Slovenia, the city of the famous disappearing Lake Cerknica in the Karst region of Notranjska. He traveled the United States working in the forests and fighting as a boxer. He settled in the Johnstown, Pa., area where he worked in the coal mines for 10 years before starting a business that provided meals for miners. He also owned and operated restaurants for many years in Johnstown.

Louis Swelfer was born in 1877 in a very small logging village in central Primorska where his family logged and raised honeybees. He migrated throughout Slovenia and Germany as a coal miner and worker. He met and married Johanna Sinkovec of Idrija, a city located above mercury mines that was famous for its bobbin lace makers.

Mary was born in Gelsenkirken, Germany, in 1902. She came to America through Ellis Island with her mother and sister to join Louis, who had preceded them to find work. The family moved many times, eventually settling in Dunlo, Pa., when Johanna received an inheritance from her family. They had six daughters and two sons who lived to adulthood. Johanna did not practice the bobbin lace tradition of her family, but she made many elegant bedspreads, tablecloths and other crocheted items.

Joseph and Mary owned and operated restaurants in Johnstown. They survived the second Johnstown flood despite the complete destruction of their property. They were both very active members of the former Lodge 44 in Conemaugh, Pa., where they loved the socializing, politics, singing and polka dancing. They had two daughters, Lillian Louise and Mildred Rose. In 1971, Joseph and Mary visited Cerknica and were reunited with many relatives. Mary returned two more times and visited her family homestead in Idrija. She enjoyed these visits enormously, and was accompanied by her brother, and later by Lillian and Louise Albert Geer Herman, a granddaughter.

The two plaques representing the Vivoda and the Swelfer families, designed by Lillian’s daughter, Audrey Jane Geer Masalehdan, are placed side by side in the Heritage Center with a line linking the marriage of Joseph and Mary. They are located next to the plaque of the Ilersich family, who were close friends of the Vivodas in Johnstown for many years.