Born April 20, 1894, John J. Dulla immigrated to the United States from those parts of the Hapsburg Empire that were to become the Federal Republic of Czeckoslovakia. When the first world war broke out, John Dulla went to Canada and enlisted in the French Army. That took him to Europe where he fought in France. He contracted the Spanish Flu in the 1918 influenza pandemic which spread widely across the world and killed between 50 and 100 million people.
John Dulla returned to the United States, worked for a while in an Iowa factory, then for the Burlington Railroad. He wound up in Nebraska from where he maintained a correspondence with Mary Hudecek whose family lived only a kilometer from John’s family home in Czeckoslovakia. Mary came to the U.S. and she married John in Chicago in 1922.
The couple returned to Nebraska where they leased a farm in Ravenna and began farming. Mary ran a café in town. They had two daughters, one of whom, Yvonne Harding, now lives in Aurora. The Dulla family stayed on the farm until 1940.
When WWII started, the Dulla family moved to Denver. John apprenticed himself to a dry cleaner and became very skilled at this work where he stayed until he retired.
Daughter Yvonne describes her Dad as very skilled with his hands. He made foot stools and a work bench out of scrap wood which she still has. “He was a great big guy, he knew a lot of people and helped out at church. They had a beautiful garden and lawn at their home. He worked for a while at Fairmount Cemetery.” John collected maps of the War Zone where he served.
John and Mary lived at 5th & Cherokee. John went to the bank to cash his Social Security check on October 3rd, 1981. A young man, who apparently saw him coming out of the bank, followed him home. The robber beat John and knocked him to the ground where John’s head hit concrete. Mary heard the commotion and came out of the house to defend her husband. But the thief grabbed their money and ran. Police came and conducted a very thorough investigation according to Yvonne.
John refused to go to the hospital but subsequently fell out of bed. An ambulance took him to Denver General Hospital where a blood clot was diagnosed. Though John was taken off life support and moved to a nursing home, he survived until January 30, 1982. His death was ruled a homicide. No one has been prosecuted for this murder.
If you have information relating to this crime, please call Lt. Jon Priest, Denver Police Department, 720-913-6696.