Vlasta Jana Marie "Pat" Baskin-Goad

Vlasta Jana Marie “Pat” Baskin-Goad was born Jan.20, 1929 in Klatovy, Czechoslovakia to Josef and Marie Kolena. God took her home on Sept. 7, 2016. She is survived by sons Wade Baskin, his wife Patty, and children Summer Wozniak, Whit Baskin, Brady Baskin, and Season Baskin; Dan Baskin, his wife Ann, and children Crystal Morgan and Rachel Moore; Mike Baskin, and wife Eve, and children Landon Baskin, Lauren Scott, Lacey Baskin, Stephanie Garrett, and Steve Arnold; and 12 great-grandchildren. Pat was preceded in death by her husband Dr. Wade Baskin, and later by her second husband Dewey Goad, and her sister Irene Cizek. Vlasta was well acquainted with hardship and struggles, which punctuated her life from an early age. The German army invaded her city in 1938, evicting her family from their house for use by the older officers. In 1944, fierce fighting between allied forces and the Nazis broke out in her hometown. Allied bombs claimed the lives of her aunt and two cousins. Vlasta’s parents convinced a co-worker who lived in the country to take Vlasta and her sister Irene into their home where they would be safe from the bombing. After their father Josef put them on a train, the sisters walked through the fields to their new home. Two planes swooped down and flew by so closely that the girls could see the pilots’ faces. The planes flew off without firing at them as they jumped in a ditch looking up at the planes. As the war drew to a close, Vlasta moved back to her parents’ home. She then met her future husband Wade, who was a medic and an interpreter in the 8th Armored Division. Vlasta recalled it was love at first sight, but Wade was transferred to Germany before he could say goodbye. He wrote her on Red Cross stationery, even writing her father to ask his permission to marry Vlasta. Wade never heard back from Vlasta, but continued to write every day. Vlasta’s mother had hidden his letters as soon as they arrived. Vlasta found the letters one day when her parents were out and started writing Wade back. Upon Wade’s discharge from the army, he tried to obtain a visa to return to Czechoslovakia but the Russians- who now controlled the country- denied it. The couple was married by proxy but Vlasta was not granted a passport. To further complicate matters, she was no longer considered a Czech citizen since she was now married to an American. Wade and Vlasta decided the only solution would be for her to escape to West Germany, the border being only a few miles from her home. Vlasta and three of her friends hatched a plan to escape but were reported to the Russians when after stopping at a farmhouse to ask directions. A Russian patrol quickly caught up with them just as they were crossing the marker stones into West Germany. One of the groups was shot dead and she and the rest of her group were attacked by the Russians’ dogs. The subdued escapees were then chained to the Russians motorcycles and forced to run for several kilometers to a train station where they were sent back to town. After being interrogated most of the day, they were thrown in prison. Vlasta was in a cell with two other women for four months, but was sent to solitary confinement after she was caught trying to pass a note to her mother on a rare visit. After five months of solitary confinement in a cell with only a bucket and a blanket, her parents found a lawyer who secured her release. Upon her release in November 1948 she weighed 65 pounds. While recuperating at home, she found that she could not enter the United States after December 31 of that year. With only a little over a month left, Wade got her a ticket on a ship but later found that the ship would not arrive in New York City before December 31. Meanwhile, Vlasta’s father bribed a man in the passport office to give her a passport. After many frantic days of travel, re-routing and delays due to storms, Vlasta arrived at La Guardia airport at 11:40 pm, December 31, 1948, 20 minutes before the last immigrant was allowed into the USA. Vlasta then travelled to Arkansas where she was reunited with Wade for a short time. Wade then left to work on hi doctorate at Columbia University and Vlasta remained in Arkansas where she worked in a chicken processing plant and as a nurse’s aid in the local hospital. When she was delivering her first son, the doctor asked her if she wanted her baby buried in Arkansas or in Czechoslovakia, since he was expected to be a complicated breach-birth; however, the delivery was successful. After receiving his PhD, Wade moved his family to New York City, where he started the Academy of Applied Linguistics. Later, due to concerns over his parents’ health the family moved back to Arkansas and later to Durant, where Vlasta joined Wade in the Modern Language Department. She was a German and Russian instructor at SOSU and was fluent in five languages. While at SOSU, she translated the book “Hysteria, Reflex, and Instinct”. She assisted her husband Wade in many of his books. Vlasta was the recipient of many professional awards. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Durant, where services will be conducted by Brown’s Funeral Service at 2 pm on Monday, Sept. 12. Rev. Dave Smith and Rev. Ross Kirven will officiate. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.brownfuneralservice.com.

Vlasta Jana Marie "Pat" Baskin-Goad

January 20, 1929 - September 7, 2016