Bethlen Naptár, 1954 (Ligonier)
Snapshots of life in the Bethlen Home
220 BETHLEN NAPTÁR SNAPSHOTS OF LIFE IN THE BETHLEN HOME 1952-1953 By: JOSEPH KECSKEMETHY, Superintendent There was once a mother who took a snapshot of her child each year on his birthday. The boy was not always dressed in his Sunday best on these occasions. On one occasion he was snapped as he held firm grip on a chair, attempting to take his first steps; on another as a young man adjusting his tie before a mirror. On one picture he lay as a feverish child on a sickbed, while another snapshot showed him as a young athlete about to dive into the blue waters. Our American-Hungarian people of the Reformed faith have just such a child whom they love. This child, often misunderstood, occasionally disowned, at times envied, was named at birth The Hungarian Reformed Orphanage, and in adulthood renamed The Bethlen Home of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, haven for the dependent children and the aged of our faith and our race. With the growth and development of this child in beauty, spirit, and in wealth, life in our Federation and churches has undergone similar growth and development in beauty, faith, in social responsibility, and in charity. Both child and parents — the Bethlen Home, our Federation, and churches — may say, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.” Just as the mother in our story took photographs of her child annually, I too, have taken snapshots of life as it was lived in our Bethlen Home in the year 1952 and the first half of the year 1953. Let me show these pictures to you. The “Kossuth House”, Washington, D. C., Central Office of Our Federation.
