Viola O. Jurasek

Viola "Vi" Jurasek, 89, of Mason City, passed away peacefully Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at Baylor, Scott, and White Medical Center in McKinney, Texas. Funeral services will be held Friday, May 16, 2025, at 11:00 am., at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N Pennsylvania Ave., with Rev. Dan Gerrietts officiating. A visitation will be held an hour prior at the church. Interment will be held in Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. Memorials may be directed towards the family of Viola Jurasek.

To watch Viola's service click here: Viola's service

Viola Odetta Smeby was born on November 1, 1935, on the family farm north of Hanlontown, Iowa, to John and Olga (Sorensen) Smeby. Vi was the only girl of six children. She didn’t have to do farm chores, but she did have to help her mother with household chores and cooking. She attended a one-room schoolhouse through eighth grade and graduated with honors from Hanlontown High School in 1953. She earned her 100 words per minute typing metal (on a manual typewriter), sang in the choir, and played the clarinet in the high school band. Vi loved participating in marching band and looked forward to the River City Band Festival every year. She also taught herself, and later her children, how to play the piano. After graduation, she moved to Mason City and attended Hamilton Business School. Vi worked at Woolworth's Department Store and then for Cerro Gordo Abstract Company as an abstractor.

On January 5, 1963, she met her future husband, Gerald “Jerry” Jurasek, at a dance in Clear Lake, Iowa. Later that year, on October 26, the couple was married at Grace Lutheran Church in Hanlontown, Iowa, and lived in Mason City. In 1964, the couple welcomed their first child, Karen, into the world. Their second child, Kevin, was born in 1966. Their third child, Kyle, was sadly stillborn in 1970.

Vi was a loving and caring wife and mother. She chose to stay home to raise their two children, occasionally helping out part-time at the Abstract Company when one of her nieces could babysit in the summer. When her children entered elementary school, she worked more frequently, but only when work would not interfere with her children’s school and extracurricular activities. She helped with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop and was a den mother for her son’s Cub Scout troop. She attended many of her children’s baseball and softball games, choir, and band concerts.

In 1972, Vi and Jerry purchased their small Forester camper, beginning the long camping trips taken each summer, with the trips usually including fishing at some point. Vi did not enjoy fishing as much as her husband did, requiring him to bait her hook and remove any fish she caught. However, she was the one who hooked a 25-pound Northern Pike on a trip the two of them took, which has been on display on their basement wall for the past 60+ years. Vi and Jerry also bowled in the VFW league for many years, where she served as the league treasurer. Vi was a huge sports fan. She loved football, baseball, and basketball, supporting the Minnesota Vikings and Twins, and her absolute favorite team, the Iowa State Cyclones. If a game was televised, she rarely missed it, and in later years would often watch reruns of her Iowa State Cyclones. She also enjoyed playing card games: 500, Court Whist, 31, and cribbage with family and friends.

When both children were in junior high, Vi returned to work full-time for Cerro Gordo Abstract Company. She retired in 1998. Vi and her husband enjoyed taking trips every year. They would often go to Texas or Arizona for several weeks each winter. They also traveled to Florida, California, the New England states, and Branson, Missouri.

Vi was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, where she served as the bible school supply coordinator with her sister-in-law, Jan Smeby for many years. She also loved to garden and planted vegetables and flowers every year, canning much of what was harvested. When tending a large garden became too difficult, she continued to plant containers with tomatoes, onions, peppers and flowers every year.

In 1999, they welcomed their grandson, Konner, into the family, followed by their granddaughter, Katelyn, in 2002. Vi loved her grandchildren and spent many hours with them. As she had with her children, she attended their football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, and archery events as often as she could. Vi loved spending time with her family. She especially loved attending family reunions and picnics several times a year.

Vi is survived by her daughter, Karen (Andy) Stewart, Blue Ridge, TX; her son, Kevin (Kriston) Jurasek, Johnston, IA; her grandson Konner Jurasek and his fiancé Lexi Dauner, Boise, ID; her granddaughter Katelyn Jurasek, Johnston, IA; her brothers and sister-in-laws; Wally and Criss Smeby, Glenn and Janet Smeby, and Linda Smeby, many nieces and nephews, and many cousins.

She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, grandparents, three brothers, three sister-in-laws, several aunts and uncles, cousins, and her son, Kyle.