Difference between revisions of "Robert Cespiva"

Revision as of 15:04, October 18, 2019

​​ Robert Frank Cespiva, known as Bob Cespiva (December 6, 1925 – August 25, 2019), was a local politician, educator, and civic leader in Pineville, Louisiana.

Background

Of Czech ancestry, Cespiva was one of seven children born to Frank and Josephine Cespiva, in Kolin, an unincorporated community in Rapides Parish, located seven miles southeast of Pineville. He graduated in 1942 from Bolton High School in Alexandria, Louisiana, then the only high school for white students in Rapides Parish. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy and served from 1942 to 1945 in World War II. He participated in seven invasions in the Pacific theater of operations, including Okinawa and the Philippines. U.S. President Harry Truman awarded Cespiva him the Bronze Star after Cespiva saved the life of a downed pilot in the invasion of Saipan.^[1]

Career

After the war, Cespiva enrolled at Louisiana College in Pineville, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. Thereafter, he obtained his Master's plus 30 additional credits from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He taught school at Oakdale in Allen Parish and [[rural] Buckeye in eastern Rapides Parish. He became an assistant principal and coach at Pineville Elementary School and then a lengthy tenure as assistant principal at Pineville High School. In 1984, he retired as the first principal at J. I. Barron Elementary School. He had an accumulated forty-one years in the education field. During this period, he also served on the Central Louisiana Football Association and was a former president of the Pineville Lions International.^[1]

Cespiva served for sixteen years on the Pineville City Council during the administrations of Mayors George Huffman, Floyd Smith, and Fred H. Baden. For twenty-eight years, Cespiva was vice-chairman of the Rapides Parish Democratic Executive Committee. He also served on the Rapides Parish Workforce investment board for forty years. He was a former president of the Rapides Parish Teachers Association, affiliated with the Louisiana Education Association. He was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Czech Heritage Society He regularly attended the annual Czech Heritage Festival in Kolin.^[1]

Cespiva was a hunter and sportsman. As an adult he played baseball on the Unique Cleaners team. He was often seen at ballfields watching his children and grandchildren participating in football, basketball, baseball, and soccer.^[1]

Death

Cespiva was predeceased by his first wife and the mother of his three children, the former Eva Loyce Daniel (1928-1980). Two of his children are deceased: Robert David "Bud" Cespiva (1957-2008) and Janice Kay Roden (1951-2014).^[2] He was survived by his second wife, Margaret Lynn Cespiva, and his son, Brian D. Cespiva, and wife, Cindy Ann, and three grandchildren.^[1]

Cespiva died at the age of ninety-three. His services were held at Trinity Baptist Church, of which he was a member, with pastor Darryl Hoychick presiding. A military interment ceremony followed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Ball, north of Pineville, Louisiana.^[1] His first wife Eva is also interred there.^[2]

References

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