Dear Mama: The Krajicek Boys' Letters to Their Runaway Mother

by David J Krajicek, Karen Gutliph Graves (Illustrations)

In 1936, a Nebraska housewife named Hazel Chandler Krajicek abandoned her husband and two young sons, ran off to Michigan, and never returned home. In Dear Mama, the American true crime writer David J. Krajicek explores the troubled life of Hazel, the grandmother he never knew. He learned that she was born into a raucous family whose home base was South Omaha's boisterous meatpacking district. Her kin included a heaping dose of miscreants--both major and minor--whose names popped up often in Omaha newspaper crime stories, including in connection with a cockamamie, booze-infused homicide that intimately involved Hazel's two sisters and their husbands. Hazel's story is told in part through dozens of heartrending letters from her sons, Eddie and Connie. "Mama, I don't want nothing for my birthday," the nine-year-old Eddie wrote in July 1937, nearly a year after she left. "Send me your picture if you can. That will be a birthday present from you to me." Hazel saved the letters for decades, and the author's father, Edward L. (Eddie) Krajicek, retrieved them after she died in 1981. The letters reveal Eddie's extraordinary sense of duty toward love a mother who rejected him. "You deserve all of the happiness in the world, mom," he wrote. His enduring kindness toward Hazel, on touching display in this book, serves as a paragon example of how one can graciously overcome a broken heart.

122 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2020

Reviews

[Bridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily 5 stars.
I know I’m a little biased, because this story ties into my husband’s family history and the South Omaha roots both of our families share. But honestly, this book hit me in a way I didn’t expect.

David Krajicek tells the story so well that I felt like I was right there with his father, Eddie. And the whole time, I couldn’t stop thinking about my husband. They’re distantly related, but it’s more than that. They both grew up with way more than any kid should have to deal with — alcoholism, chaos, unfair situations. Yet, somehow still turned into these strong, loving men who broke the cycles they were born into.

Reading about Eddie felt strangely familiar, almost comforting, like seeing where pieces of my husband’s resilience might have come from.

Someday, when my kids are old enough, this is a book I want them to read. Not just because it’s part of their family’s story, but because it’s important for them to understand the truth — the good, the hard, and the things they need to be aware of, like the thread of alcoholism that exists in our history.

This book meant a lot to me. More than I expected