Julius Victor Tupa, passed peacefully into the arms of his Savior Jesus Christ on October 5, 2002. He was born in Moravia, Texas on July 22, 1931 to Frank and Julie Tupa.

He is survived by his dedicated wife of 48 years, Marie, and a loving family that includes daughter Gayle Boney and husband Tom, daughter Tina Stankus and husband Erik; 4 grandchildren, Jason, Lindsay, Stephen and Kendall; mother Julie; brother Willie and wife Veronica.

His dedication to the promotion of music began at 13, playing the guitar, starting his first band, the Sunny Land Cowboys, in 1956. He proudly served in the U.S. Army from 1953-1956 and the USAF Reserve from 1956-1961, and attended the University of Houston. He served many organizations including being a charter member of St. Jerome Catholic Church, founder and editor of the Texas Polka Newspaper, founder and president of TPMA, charter member of P.O.L.K. of A. Chapter 1 of Texas, where he and wife Marie became it's first King and Queen in 1989. Lifetime Achievement member of both the American Legion Post 654 and VFW Post 8790, member of Knights of Columbus Council 4550, SPJST and the Czech Heritage Society. Julius will be forever loved, remembered and missed by his family and by the numerous cultural, musical, and benevolent organizations he avidly supported.

Friends are invited to visitation with the family on Monday, October 7, 2002 from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., at St. Jerome Catholic Church, 8825 Kempwood, Houston, Texas where a Vigil Service will be held at 7:00 p.m., the same evening.

The funeral Liturgy will be held at 11:00 a.m., on Tuesday, October 8, 2002 at St. Jerome Catholic Church, Rev. Msgr. Dan Scheel, celebrant. Rite of Committal will follow in Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery.

Serving as Pallbearers will be David Nastoupil, Jason Boney, Larry Schultz, Jimmie Schultz, Randy Kuhn and Karl Reiger. Honorary pallbearers are John Rivard, Matt Provenzano, Richard Taylor and Ralph Walorski.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the St. Jerome Catholic Church Building Fund, 8825 Kempwood, Houston, Tx 77080.

Posted by Matt Cross

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Julius Victor Tupa, Houston's polka king

Julius Victor Tupa, Houston's polka king, died Saturday of cancer. He was 71.

Today he will be laid to rest amid prayers and the goodtime oom-pah-pah melodies of an accordion trio.

A guitarist and bass player, Tupa's musical tastes were broad. He performed in Western swing and polka bands, and his last group, the decade-old Sound Connection, was the first Slovenian-style polka band in the state.

Additionally, he was editor of the Texas Polka News, a 16-page monthly publication, founder and director of the Texas Polka Music Association, a founder with his wife, Marie, of the Texas chapter of the Polka Lovers Klub of America -- they were the group's first king and queen -- and host of the long-running Saturday morning Polka Express on KYND-AM.

KYND station manager Bill Turner said Tupa's two-hour program was a star on the station's roster, which also includes Pakistani, Spanish and Polish programs.

"We guesstimated that it was probably the No. 1 Houston radio program in its time slot," Turner said. "It was phenomenal. The phone just rang constantly. People would call in during the week and ask us to leave him request notes because they couldn't get in on Saturday."

Tupa began his radio career on a Rosenberg station in 1984, then moved to KYND four years later.

In a 1997 interview with the Houston Chronicle, Tupa told then-music critic Rick Mitchell that he was 7 years old before he spoke his first English word.

"Back in the early days," he said, "we used to sit out on the porch. That's where my mom taught us how to sing. We were farmers. Everyone used to sing. While I was learning to speak English in school, my teacher used to ask me to sing a couple of tunes every week."

His early ambition was to sing like country music stars. "I could yodel like Elton Britt, Slim Whitman, all those guys," he told Mitchell.

He came to Houston in 1950, pursuing a musical career at clubs in the Houston Heights and on South Main Street. In 1951, he made his first recording and met his future wife at a Heights-area Czech dance hall.

"It was at the Bill Mraz Ballroom on 34th Street," his wife recalled. "He was a very good Czech dancer, polkas and waltzes. He was just there. We danced, and he asked if I'd go out with him."

The Tupas were married three years later in Germany, where he was stationed with the military.

In 1956, Tupa, then an electrical engineering student at the University of Houston, formed his first country outfit, a Western swing group called the Sunnyland Sounds. But by the early 1980s, Tupa was ready to return to polka.

"I said, `Let me do something I really like,' " he said in 1997.

In 1992, he co-founded the Sound Connection, a group that played polkas, pop and country.

"He just loved music," his wife said. "Any song was good to him."

Tupa was a lifetime achievement member of both the American Legion Post 654 and the VFW Post 8790. He also was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 4550, the Czech Heritage Society and the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas.

Tupa's friend John Rivard described him as "a man of vision, a dreamer."

Rivard and his wife, avid dancers, met Tupa in 1990 as he performed with the Sound Connection at a Houston barbecue joint.

"He was a gentle man," Rivard said. "I never heard the man use a cuss word, never heard him speak badly of any other human being.

"He was always on the run. He had the Sound Connection, the newspaper, he was active in neighborhood civic affairs, he sold insurance for a Czech paternal association. He was always doing something, running a little behind. He accomplished more than most ever do."

In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Gayle Boney and Tina Stankus; a brother, Willie Tupa; and four grandchildren.

Funeral will be 11 a.m. today at St. Jerome Catholic Church.

Posted by Ray J. Bacak