Talk:Toni Vondruska

We got the following email 2/13/23:

Hi, 
Thought you might like to enter my father's DOB on Fancyclopedia: 
DOB: 10 August, 1933. 
Also, he was known as "Tony" not Toni. 
 
Thank you and regards, 
Boženka Vondruška

[added by User:Mlo talk on 16 Feb 23, 18:17? PST]

Interesting – but with all due respect to his family, he seems to have gafiated quite early (though he should be covered in any decent NZ fanhistory), so they appear unaware of how he spelled his zines. It is quite understandable that in the mundane world, he would soon (or later) have anglicised/standardised to Tony…

Still, I for myself would be interested to ask about more biographic details. Mark, perhaps you might forward the e-mail/address to me? --JVjr (talk) 04:57, 17 February 2023 (PST)

More from Boženka Vondruška:

His given name was Antonín JiříJoseph Vondruška, which is Czech. Shortened this is Toni (pronounced Tonyee) with a short "o" as in "tonsils". But I'm guessing, that living in New Zealand, it was easier to use the name "Tony" to avoid issues with confusion around pronunciation,spelling. (Same thing with my brother; his name is Antonin also, and I know him as Toni, but most people know him as Tony).
I don't know the details of him leaving there except that he was quite young (maybe in his 20s) and he worked his way over to New Zealand as a cook in refugee camps. He then worked as a chef for many years after coming from Prague, Czechoslovakia - at the St George Hotel in Wellington, The Quarterdeck in Lower Hutt and The Settlement in Willis Street, Wellington which was Established by Harry Seresin in 1973. 
He loved fishing from his dinghy at Pukerua Bay where him and my mother rented a bach for many years, and he was also very into electronics and ham radio.
He started his own business in 1978 as (Carecord Electronics Limited) in Willis Street where he worked by himself as an electronic serviceman fixing radios and stereos until his death.
He married my mother, Lynette, in 1958 when she was 16 and they had 3 children, Marie, Antonin and Bozenka. 
Lynette was an artist and worked as an Art Editor for School Publications for many years before starting her own business doing freelance artwork. 
They separated some time in the late 80s/early 90s (sorry, I can't remember!) and Lynette passed away on December 4, 2000 at the age of 59. 

In his own fanzines, he spelled his name Toni. Other fans sometimes misspelled it as Tony. Leah Zeldes Smith (talk) 10:28, 13 February 2023 (PST)

There is one "Tony" even in his address in Peregrinations in Blue page 9, but it is Toni in the address at the Contents page "II" and then variously throughout.

I suppose that reason for that iota might be that that the Czech name Antonín has the shortened/familiar form Toník… and now that I think of it, even Toni was not unknown in the first half of the century, although it has disappeared since (both possibly due to a German influence? one of the last instances, at least in significant literature, is in Karel Čapek's wikipedia:The Mother (Čapek play).) --JVjr (talk) 07:01, 14 February 2023 (PST)

Also, "Joseph" is an English (or possibly German) spelling, the Czech (that I'd expect after Jiří) would be Josef. Still, these extra "middle" (baptismal?) names are irrelevant for everyday life. --JVjr (talk) 16:28, 15 March 2023 (PDT)