John Huna

REV. JOHN HUNA, pastor of St. Ann's Catholic Church in Olmitz, is, as the record of his work in Kansas shows, a man of rare executive and constructive ability and has helped turn the wheels of progress in every community where his labors have been bestowed.

Father Huna was born at Purkarec, near Budweis, Bohemia, July 12, 1870, son of Thomas Huna, a Bohemian farmer. John was one of the twelve children of Thomas and Marie (Houska) Huna. Father Huna has two brothers, Joseph and James Huna, who are farmers in Marion County, Kansas.

John Huna finished his high school work at Budweis and came to America in 1886. Soon afterward he entered St. Meinrad's Seminary in Spencer County, Indiana, and took his philosophical and theological courses in preparation for the priesthood in that noted institution. He came to Kansas from Indiana in 1893, and on January 15th of that year was ordained at Kansas City by Bishop Fink.

For 6 1/2 years Rev. Fr. Huna had charge of St. John's parish in Marion County, Kansas. While there he attracted the attention of church authorities by his constructive work. He brought about the erection of n church edifice at a cost of $4,000, and also a mission church at Tampa in the same county. A number of missions in that locality were attended by him. From Marion County Father Huna came to Olmitz in 1900, having been appointed to that charge by Bishop Hennessey as successor to Rev. Fr. Schutz. At Olmitz he found a small frame church and a much smaller membership than St. Ann's parish now has. The problem of better accommodations was forced upon his attention, and when the old church was destroyed by fire January 23, 1913, he immediately began plans for the erection of n new and better home. The new church of St. Ann's is built of brick, at a cost of $30,000, and it was completed and dedicated October 13, 1914. The priest's house and parochial school, representing a cost of about $15,000, are other evidences of the labors of Father Huna in Barton County.

Father Huna by taste and by education is well fitted to mingle with all classes and exercise a wholesome influence both in and out of his church. He is master of the Bohemian, German and English languages, writes as well as speaks these tongues, and he has often made addresses on occasions not within the strict limits of his professional interests. During the war he was one of the popular speakers in Barton County in behalf of Liberty loans and Red Cross campaigns.

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