Tuesday, November 11, 2003


New York-based Charter 77: Donor diva

For 14 years foundation head has helped build Czech civil society.
On the eve of Vaclav Havel's first presidential inauguration, Wendy Luers and her husband, Bill, the U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1983 to 1986, were watching history unfold on the BBC -- and in the next room.
They were in Havel's Prague apartment, and the soon-to-be head of state was trying on Bill's neckties. Olga Havlova was donning Wendy's blouses.
I knew Olga for years, and I knew she had very few clothes, Wendy Luers recalls. Dissidents lived sparsely.
Luers had brought more to the country than selections from her stylish New York wardrobe. She carried a commitment of $25,000 in donations from Czech emigres eager to support the rebirth of democracy in their homeland. Money was needed for just about everything at that time.

· 1989 [Prague Post]

Amerikan Slovaks
History cannot be written by heart. Anything that is written must either be lived through or searched for.
A man should listen to a little music every day as music washes off the dust of life. Anything that is written must either be lived through or searched for.

· 1919 [A History of the Binghamton Slovaks]