Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/239
Rev. Cyprian Tomecko was born of Slovak parents at Moyer, Pa., April 27, 1890. In 1905 he finished his grade school at Lakefield. Minn., whither the family had removed from Pennsylvania. In the fall of the same year the family moved again, this time to Lipton, Sask., Canada. Father Cyprian, however, due to lack of sufficient means, could not continue his schooling, and it was not until 1907 that he was finally enabled to enter St. Boniface College, St. Boniface, Manitoba; he matriculated in 1910 at the University of Manitoba.
There being no more funds for further schooling, the realization of his cherished dream of a thorough education now appeared to be completely blasted. Two dark years elapsed before Dame Fortune again smiled upon Father Cyprian’s anxious hopes to attain his goal, for in 1912 he was granted a teacher’s Certificate, which enabled him to secure a position as teacher in a country school near Lipton. Among the pupils were his small brother and three sisters; indeed, a merry time of it he must have had trying to convince some indifferent Canadian urchin of a universally accepted arithmetical fact. At any rate, the salary thus received for teaching from January, 1912 to July of the same year was sufficient to put him through junior college. This, nevertheless, was not deemed a sufficient argument why he should be allowed to continue his education, but Father Cyprian’s inherent persistence and determination to succeed finally won out against financial difficulties, and he was at last permitted to enter St. Procopius College back in the “States”.
After completing the junior college course at St. Procopius, he entered the novitiate of St. John, Collegeville, Minn., in June, 1914, returning the following summer as a member of St. Procopius Abbey. From 1915 to 1921 he was instructor and prefect during the scholastic years, studying during the summer sessions at the University of Illinois. In fact, he holds the distinction of being the