Artist/Gallery Website
Bea Opelka was born in 1937 in Kaunas, Lithuania, and grew up on her grandparents' farm in the northern part of the country. These early years were her first encounter with the wonders of nature that continue to fire her imagination. In 1949, she traveled to the United States to study at the University of Illinois and moved to Kansas in 1971. Large oil paintings of vast spaces are typical of her work. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., and the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg, Kansas, and her work is represented in many public and private collections nationwide, including the Art in Embassies Program. The Hadley Art Collection showcases two of her pieces.
BEATRICE OPELKA OBITUARY
Beatrice Vida Opelka
February 23, 1937 - October 30, 2022
Makawao, Hawaii - Beatrice V. Opelka passed away peacefully on Sunday, October 30, 2022, surrounded by loved ones at the age of eighty-five. A mass of Christian Burial will be on Thursday, January 5th, 2023, at 9:45 am at Holy Ghost Church, with burial to follow at Makawao Cemetery.
Bea, also known as Vida, was born February 23, 1937, in Lithuania to dedicated, well-educated parents Joseph and Maria Matukas. She was close to her older sister Irene and grandmother Ona. Bea's childhood was anything but easy. She enjoyed a loving home life in Kaunas with cherished trips to the family farm at Sylagalis until the war began. She lost her mother, Maria, when she was only three but stayed very close to her beloved Papa (Joseph) until he died in 1983. To avoid deportation by the Russians, the family fled to Germany in 1944. She spent many years in situations unique to war until 1949. At that time, her family was sponsored and immigrated to the US. In Chicago, Illinois, she began the transition to becoming a proud American citizen while never forgetting her Lithuanian roots. These early years undoubtedly gave her the strength and tenacity her loved ones knew and admired.
She graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in psychology in 1959. It was there that she met the love of her life, John "Jack" Opelka. They married on August 8, 1959, in Hinsdale, Illinois. They later moved to Kansas City in 1971, where they proceeded to build their own successful company. As Jack developed the business, Bea studied art and found it to be a real passion. She made many lifelong friends along the way. As her skills grew, she became a renowned painter known for her impressionistic Kansas landscapes. Among her accolades, one of her paintings hung in the White House during the Reagan administration, and another was selected to hang in the American Embassy in Lithuania. This made her quite proud.
After many years of hard work and success, she and Jack fulfilled a dream of retiring to a home they built in Maui, Hawaii. They were passionate about family, sailing, and traveling the world. She was an extraordinary parent who was always kind, giving, patient, and strong. In later life, she also found her greatest pleasure was that of being a grandparent. This helped her survive the loss of her beloved Jack in 2015 after 56 years of marriage.
Her survivors include two children, Julie (Mark) Watts and Michael (Gloria) Opelka, along with three grandchildren, Jack, Frank, and Anna Opelka. She was a wonderful, gentle, and kind woman who will be missed by many.
