California Obituaries, San Bernardino County 

"Big Bear Grizzly"; Submitted by Peggy Hooper

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Ilona "Neeny" Vsetecka 
 
Published: Thursday, November 4, 2010 5:04 PM PDT

passed away Saturday, October 30th. She is survived by her daughter Ilona, granddaughters 
Rosemary and Nicki, and great granddaughter Marley Quinn. She was preceded in death by 
her husband Vladimir "Papa" Vsetecka.

    Neeny was born in Czechoslovakia where she graduated high school and went to business 
school for three years while serving as a sales person apprentice. In 1948 she and Papa fled 
to Western Germany where she taught herself English from cookbooks and by listening to 
baseball on the radio.

    Neeny arrived in America with Papa and their daughter on Dec. 29, 1950. After living in 
Kansas City, they moved to California in 1954 where Neeny worked for a yarn company 
making and designing knitted garments. In 1958, Neeny and Papa opened a ski shop called 
The Bay Chalet in Hermosa Beach to which they added a travel agency in 1959. In 1962 they 
moved to Big Bear Lake and opened the Ski Haus on top of Red Ant Hill.

    Neeny built her gardens one boulder at a time, giving her flowers and fruit trees decades 
of love and care. She spent many days fishing for "The Big One," which she caught in 1994. 
She enjoyed watching the lake and the people on it through every season. Neeny also 
loved cooking, baking, knitting, needle pointing and trying new things. A Big Bear resident 
for nearly 50 years, Neeny's rye bread, crabapple jelly, banana bread, and wonderful stories 
and her laugh will be sorely missed.

    There will be an open house Thursday, Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at her home on the 
lake where so many memories were made and shared by family and friends.