A Life Story

Anna Rataj passed away on November 24th at 12:36 pm just two months shy of her 95th birthday. She is survived by her husband Lumir Rataj. Her daughter Stana who gave selflessly of her time to care for Anna over the last 10 years as the aging process took hold. Her daughters Mirka and Zuzana. Her granddaughter Daryll, two grandchildren Genevieve and George and her son in law Shane Houlihan of Ireland.She will always be known to us as Mom. Mom was born in Brezno, Czechoslovakia on January 24th 1930. She was 9 years old when World War II (WW II) began and 15 years old when it ended. She suffered through the German occupation. Most of the WWII generation are now gone and few have firsthand experience like Mom of the hardships the war brought. She endured lack of food and constant fear during her childhood years because of the war.Unfortunately, things did not get better for Mom after WW II. As part of the WW II peace settlements, Czechoslovakia was given to the Russians. Thus, communism became the prevailing political and economic driving force of the country and the hardship continued.Mom lived in Banska Bystrica and Vrbno pod Pradedem, small towns in the Tatra mountains and met Dad on a train. Next thing you know the city girl has become a farmer's wife. She learned how to cut hay (this is by hand pre machines). She learned how to milk cows, kill chickens, and make all the food from scratch. She tended to pigs, goats, ducks, and geese. She maintained the family orchards and vegetable gardens. Farm living in the 1950's was extremely hard work and meant Mom was also working full time in the communist cooperative. During the time on the farm her three daughters were born which we are sure only contributed to her work load.In 1969, Mom and Dad made the bold decision to immigrate at the age of 40. Leaving everything behind including family they made their way to Austria to an immigration camp with three small children and one suitcase. After many months, an American Czech charity sponsored the family to immigrate to the USA. As luck would have it, they landed in Savannah with jobs milking cows on a dairy farm. In between work and taking care of the family Mom also learned English.After a few years on the dairy farm Mom changed employment doing custodial work in downtown Savannah hotels. She also worked at Oglethorpe Mall and the Kroger Deli. Eventually Mom got a job at St. Joseph's hospital in housekeeping where she worked for 30 years until they made her retire at the age of 76. Dad would drop her off in the morning and she would ride her bicycle home stopping at the grocery store to get items for our dinners. She just loved being productive. She also loved nature and animals as evidenced by the many plants, 5 adopted stray cats, racoons, turtles, and birds. She had a wonderful long life, 70 years of happy marriage and most of all she always smothered us with love. We will miss her so very much.A Funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Hodgson Chapel. The family will receive friends at the funeral home for one hour prior to service. Burial will be in Greenwich Cemetery.