Calvin Synod Herald, 1977 (77. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1977-07-01 / 7-8. szám

6

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

any type of summer religious training. The staff for these schools is recruited from among the church members and are usually only English speaking.

(To be continued) Francis Vitéz

REV. EDMUND VASVARY 1888-1977

YOU’LL KNOW IT’S A BOY IF ...

by Ruth Stoffel

... the only thing he’ll put away is a big meal.

... he thinks of a bath as mission intolerable.

... he’ll cut off his jeans but not his hair.

.. . your scolding leaves him emotionally undisturbed. ... he believes it’s an ill wind that blows a musical instrument.

... he scores nine out of ten baskets, and the tenth is always your wastebasket.

... his T-shirt is on backward and inside-out.

... he changes your kitchen from early-American to late-snack.

... he’s peppier when he’s sick than you are when you’re well.

.. . he’ll go to the moon but not to a birthday party. ... he knows how a space ship works but not a pants hanger.

... he thinks square meals are really square.

.. . he changes your contemporary furniture to just

temporary.

... he makes you feel as old as he thinks you are.

HUNGARIAN FESTIVAL

AT THE GARDEN STATE ARTS CENTER

at Telegraph Hill Park on the Garden State Parkway Exit 116, Holmdel, New Jersey

Saturday, September 10, 1977

General Chairman:

Rev. Imre Bertalan 179 Somerset St.

New Brunswick, N.J. 08901 (201) 545-5841

Ticket Chairman: Priscilla Hunyady 50 Washington Ave. Colonia, N.J. 07067 (201) 381-6413

PLAZA FESTIVITIES 11:00 A.M. FORMAL PROGRAM ON STAGE 4:00 P.M.

FOR INFORMATION CALL (201) 442-8600, ext. 222, 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., weekdays or 381-6413 evenings and weekends.

(July 13, 1977) Edmund Vasvary, research historian, editor, writer and minister, died yesterday (July 12) in Washington, D.C. He was 89 years old and the “Grand Old Man” of Hungarian immigration history in the United States.

In 1976 the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to the American Hungarian Foundation to microfilm, catalog and develop the Vasvary collection, which has been described as the foremost collection of materials on Hungarian immigration and Hungarians in the United States.

Gathered over more than 50 years of effort by Edmund Vasvary, the collection consists of 400 notebooks, over 20,000 file cards, 1,000 articles, and countless items of unique historical, bio- and bibliographical value. For the American Hungarian Foundation and its research center in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the Vasvary collection forms the basis for its project to write a definitive history of Hungarian immigrants and their descendants in America.

Born in 1888 in Hungary, there Vasvary received his education. As a minister of the Reformed Church of Hungary, his church sent him to the United States in 1914. Until 1936 he served pastorates in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

In 1936 he became the comptroller of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, a fraternal organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., a post he retained until he retired in 1957. He continued to reside in Washington, where his research and literary output increased. He has published more than 1,000 articles mainly about Hungarians in America.

His major work is the book, Lincoln’s Hungarian Heroes, published in 1939. His current research involved co-authoring a book about Colonel Commandant Michael Kovats, the first Hungarian to give his life for this country. Kovats was killed in action at Charleston, S.C. in 1779. The drill field of the Citadel Military College is named in honor of Kovats.

In 1975 Vasvary received the Abraham Lincoln Award of the American Hungarian Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Kalassay Vasvary; a daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Shapiro, Washington, D.C.; a son, Edmund C., Lynchburg, Va.; four grandchldren and eight great grandchildren.

A memorial service was held in Washington, D.C. at the Gawler Funeral Home on Friday, July 15, at 4:30 p.m.

August J. Molnár