Bethlen Naptár, 1949 (Ligonier)
To our second generation
66 BETHLEN NAPTÁR THE BETHLEN HOME IN OUR LIGONIER COMMUNITY Every institution in a community either commands the respect of that community or else falls into disrepute. The Bethlen Home has risen to a high place of respect in Ligonier. First, it is a well-managed Home. The children appear in public, clean, neat, and good-mannered. As a rule they do their schoolwork well, and participate as good members of the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and other groups. The community recognizes that the irregular background of children in any orphanage and their changed relationship to the public upon entering the institution presents a real problem for the institution. The Bethlen Home, however, has been able to solve this problem of adjusting their children to new community life. Let it be said here that the community of Ligonier has little or no indigent population, being a community of aggressive, self-supporting citizens. Most homes in Ligonier, therefore, produce children who make better school associates than average communities can offer. Bethlen Home children, by attending the public schools in Ligonier, have an advantage over children in institutions which operate their own schools within the institution. Second, the Superintendent and Mrs. Kecskemethy, by entering into the community and church life in Ligonier, have won the friendship of the entire community for the Bethlen Home. Coming as they did during World War II and being here during the period of readjustment since the War, has given them a special opportunity for making friends which no other Superintendent of the Bethlen Home has had. This friendship and esteem of the Ligonier community are bought with the tireless kindness, courtesy, and sharing of the Kecskemethy’s talents CHILDREN ON OUR PLAYGROUND
