Alice Smrcka

Alice Smrcka was born October 31, 1947, to Stanley L. Smrcka and Algie Flora Nulik Smrcka at Caldwell, Kansas. Her older sister was Mariann Smrcka. 

 Alice attended Springdale for first grade. Springdale was a one room schoolhouse out in the country northwest of Renfrow, Oklahoma. She graduated from Medford High School in 1966 and graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma College (NWOSU) in 1970 with a BA ED in Art Education. She earned additional post graduate hours in Art at NWOSU, Texas Tech at Junction and Sierra Nevada College at Incline Village Lake Tahoe, Nevada. She studied hand building and wheel throwing clay, glazes and sculpture at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.

 Alice taught Art at Burbank High School in SAISD for 32 years.

She was a potter for over 30 years creating hand built and wheel thrown forms and sculptures as well as multimedia assemblages.

 She taught hand building and wheel throwing clay at Saturday Morning Discovery (SMD) at the Southwest School of Art for over 25 years. SMD is a free, introductory art experience for school age children and their parent, guardian or sponsoring teacher. Alice was a board member of SAYSI, San Antonio Youth Yes! SAYSI is a program committed to giving high school students skills in murals, assemblages, painting, sculpture and now commercial arts and design.

 Alice enjoyed teaching art and working with kids for 32 years in San Antonio. San Antonio is beautiful city with many diverse cultural experiences where Art workshops and courses were abundant.

 Alice shared 16 wonderful years with the love of her life Clyde "Les" Mueller until his passing. They loved to travel to state parks in the Texas Hill Country, photography and music. 

 In addition to art, Alice enjoyed many genres of music including blues, jazz, rock, polka, soul, gypsy soul, old standards and country. SRV, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Los Lonely Boys, Canned Heat, Jobim, Trombone Shorty, Keb Mo and Willie Nelson are just a few of them. She loved collecting books, music cds, art and other vintage items. She loved her many pets over her lifetime with her latest cat fur baby, Cheeto.

 In earlier life, Alice enjoyed traveling. She has been to most of the states in the United States, Alaska and Hawaii. She traveled with art groups to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Alice traveled to Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Yugoslavia and Okinawa, Japan. Each summer Alice would help her dad with wheat harvest for over 30 years.

 Alice retired from the teaching she loved to return home to take care of her mom and terminally ill sister, Mariann. Her mom wanted Smrcka's to be reopened so Alice reopened it. Smrcka's was established in 1958, and customers enjoyed her homemade pies, cherry limeades, burgers and other tasty treats. 

 Alice missed living in San Antonio, making artwork and her life there. She would get to go back to SA occasionally, but the heavy demands of Oklahoma would pull her back to Oklahoma.

 She greatly missed her family and friends who had passed away.

 Alice is survived by her niece Joanna McMurry and husband Ron of Jasper, Texas; two nephews Joseph Stan Johnson and wife Bec of Lubbock, Texas and Jerome Arnie Johnson of Enid, Oklahoma; Grand nephews, Derek Hall and wife Kozue of Okinawa, Japan and their sons Diezel Hall and Dustin Hall: Drew Hall and wife Bethany of Puyallup, Washington and their son William Hall; Grandniece Lexi Johnson, Abilene, Texas.

 Alice was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Mariann and her life partner Clyde "Les" Mueller.

 Memorial service for Alice will be 10:00 A.M., Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at the Medford First Christian Church with Pastor Jacob Anderson officiating. Inurnment will follow in the Czechoslovakian Cemetery, Caldwell, Kansas. Memorials may be made to the 1893 Land Run Historical Center. Arrangements by Wilson Funeral Home, Pond Creek, Oklahoma.