In 1960s Czechoslovakia, a young teacher named Vera Truhlar saw a map of Long Island, and pointed toward the center. Gesturing to her colleague, Truhlar remarked, “Look, there is a town called Bohemia there, that’s where I will teach someday,” before laughing together.
In 1969, Truhlar, by chance, would find her way to Bohemia, N.Y. And 57 years later, she reflected on the remarkable life she made in that community surrounded by some of the countless members of the Connetquot community she has impacted during a lecture at the Bohemia Historical Society.
Around 50 people listened to Truhlar explain her life story, which included over 33 years as a physical education teacher and an accomplished gymnastics coach at Connetquot School District.
“I didn’t plan to come to America,” Truhlar said. “I was a successful teacher back in Czechoslovakia.”
It was summer 1968 in Prague, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops had stormed into Czechoslovakia to quell a liberalization movement. The Soviet invasion lasted through 1969, and in early summer of that year, a friend of Truhlar’s said her brother, who lived in Patchogue, had a sponsorship available. She asked Truhlar if she was interested in leaving.
“I’m teaching and underneath our windows were the Russian tanks, trucks, and cars, and they were making such horrible noises,” Truhlar recalled. “The kids in the classroom could not concentrate, everybody is crying, and I said to my mom, ‘This is what I am facing, and now I have an opportunity to go to America.’”
“She said to me, ‘You have to go.’”
After some hesitation, Truhlar came to America to study English for one year before returning home. She arrived on July 8, 1969, with just a suitcase and $5, and was surprised to learn that the secretary job she’d have actually turned out to be for a cook at a retirement home in Blue Point that paid $20 per week.
September came and Truhlar saw local children returning to school. Thinking back to her teaching days that seemed so far away, her desire to return home to Czechoslovakia lingered. But before going home, Truhlar wanted to check out the American schools herself.
After meeting with different local schools, Truhlar found her way to Patchogue-Medford School District, and shadowed a physical education class for the day. During lunch, she received a note asking to go to room 211, she recalled. Upon entering the room, a man began speaking Czech, explaining how his family spoke the language.
“I was like, ‘That’s very nice, but my head is full because I am leaving this country,’” Truhlar said.
That man turned out to be her later husband, Joseph. Later that day, when they first met, Joseph took Truhlar to meet his Czech grandparents,
“I thought, ‘I’m at home,’” Truhlar said. Joseph and Vera Truhlar were together for the next 46 years.
A short time later, Truhlar was offered a physical education teaching job at the new Oakdale-Bohemia Junior High School.
For 33 years, Truhlar taught at Connetquot, and from 1976-1991, was the coach of Connetquot gymnastics. In those 15 years, her teams at the middle and high schools won 237 competitions, to just 40 losses, and won two county championships and six conference titles. From 1995 to 2006, Truhlar served as Suffolk County gymnastics coordinator, leading teams to four titles in the early 2000s.
In 2024, Truhlar was inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.
In the audience during her talk this week were some of Truhlar’s former colleagues and a few of the countless former students and gymnasts Truhlar impacted as young adults.
“These are my daughters!” Truhlar graciously proclaimed before hugging former Connetquot gymnasts who attended the event.
“She demanded you to be your best self,” said Connetquot gymnastics alum and coach Renee Guerrieri. “Everything she said to you just made you want to be the best version of yourself.”
Fellow Connetquot gymnastics alum Nancy Tantone credits Truhlar as her inspiration throughout life, and as a lifelong friend who continues to motivate her students even after graduation and once they land jobs as adults.
“My team [Connetquot] won the county championships in 2021… and leading up to that, she was constantly talking, planning, she was so invested in this team as if it was hers,” Guerrieri said.
For her former students, Truhlar has shown them how to love while setting expectations and motivating someone to achieve their goals.
“She had these standards, but the standards were something that you embraced,” said Connetquot gymnastics alum Fawn Silver. “She really took you in, was a great teacher, and was like a second mom.”
“I am very blessed,” Truhlar said. “I left my family on the other side of the ocean, but God gave me all of you people.”
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