Evelyn Elaine Surovec

Evelyn Elaine Surovec, 91, passed away on August 3, 2025, in the company of family, at her home in Schertz, Texas. Evelyn was born on April 4, 1934, on the family farm just outside Shiner, Texas, to Theresa and Charles Velek. Czech was her first language, as it was for many living in that area and she did not learn English until she started school in a one-room country schoolhouse in Kokernot, riding horse and buggy to get there. Later on, she rode her horse to a little country store, where she caught a school bus to attend Gonzales High School, from where she graduated in 1952.

Growing up on a farm was not easy, as Evelyn was expected to help with everything from picking eggs and milking cows before leaving for school, bringing the turkeys in from pasture or picking vegetables from the garden and canning them. She learned how to sew clothes, do embroidery and pieced quilts, piecing her first quilt as a teenager and carried on those skills through her adult life, making clothes for herself and her family and baby quilts for her grandchildren. Evelyn was also an excellent cook and baker and always treated her family with homemade noodles for noodle soup, a Czech favorite for Sunday dinner and other traditional Czech dishes and desserts.

In 1956, Evelyn married Frankie Surovec, another product of a hard- working Czech immigrant family from the Shiner area. He had already enlisted in the USAF and promptly moved her to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she started her family. Together, they were blessed with two daughters, Pamela and Lori, during the course of their 48 year union. Evelyn's final home in Schertz was the first home she and Frankie had ever bought and over the years, she filled the yard with flower beds and a vegetable garden that was the envy of her neighbors. After her daughters left home, she participated in the county extension agency's Master Gardner program, learning even more ways to grow beautiful plants. She also had a special touch with baby birds that had fallen out of their nests, which she would hand feed and raise. Over the years, there were numerous cardinals, a bluejay and Inca doves that had become pets, but were not rivaled by her beloved pet chickens later in life. If she was outside gardening, her pet chickens would follow her all over the yard or fly up into her lap as she sat in the backyard, one of her favorite spots to enjoy the fresh air. They were her babies up until her last breath.

Evelyn is survived by daughter, Pamela Wissmann, husband David and daughter Lori Ellis. Also survived by granddaughter Holly Wissmann and partner Fabian Martinez and grandson Tyler Ellis and his wife, Katy.

She is preceded in death by her husband Frankie Surovec, grandson Daniel Wissmann and parents Theresa and Charles Velek.

A Visitation will be held from 5:00PM - 8:00PM, with a Rosary to be recited at 7:00PM, on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 at Schertz Funeral Home Chapel. The Funeral Mass will begin at 11:30AM on Thursday, August 21, 2025 at Good Shepherd Catholic Church of Schertz, Texas with interment to immediately follow at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery - Shelter 1.