Magyar News, 1992. szeptember-1993. augusztus (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1993-04-01 / 8. szám
LOUIS J. STANDISH Bette Standish Johnson with Joe Stiber and Joseph Balogh at the reception. Photo: Steve Havery At the end of February people filled the St. George Episcopal Church in Bridgeport, CT. It was at a memorial service for Louis Standish. Old friends came together to give their last respect, and many organizations were represented. This was in honor of a man who was well known in our community not because he was in office or had wealth to show around. It was held for a man who never stopped taking the initiative to start something for the betterment of society, who worked hard to support his chosen causes. Music was played at the service by members of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony. Mr. Standish was founding member of the Symphony, also honorary chairman. Besides, he was an active member of church and civic organizations. He was also founding member of the Hungarian Graduate Scholarship Committee of the Halsey International Scholarship Program at U.B. From 1975 to 1977 Mr. Standish was elected President of the Committee. The successor of this Committee is the American Hungarian Heritage Association, and members voted Mr. Standish Honorary Chairman. In different capacities Mr. Standish within the Association worked to advance the organization’s cause and help students of Hungarian ancestry with well deserved scholarships. After the church service people gathered in the church hall to express their sympathy to family members. Here Rozsika played classic and Hungarian music. The ladies of the American Hungarian Heritage Association treated the guests with their well appreciated Hungarian style pastries. It is always hard to say farewell to a person, to a friend. But we will remember Louis J. Standish for his devotion, his hard work, and his strive to better our community. HERITAGE WE MUST KEEP AT ANY PRICE by Peter Kömives One of the requirements for the Mary Katona Scholarship, given out by the American Hungarian Heritage Association, is an essay on an experience in the Hungarian community. This was written by one of our applicants. I was bom in Kalocsa, Hungary. I grew up in a small town called Császártöltés. This was the place where I finished elementary school. After high school, I started studying in an Agricultural College in Kecskemét in the middle of the Hungarian “puszta.” This time remained unforgettable for me forever. I had to study very hard, and the huge number of students offered the opportunity to make strong friendships with others. I even had classmates from the former Yugoslavia and from Romania. They spoke Hungarian language very well and told exciting stories about their way of life. I have never met with ethnic Hungarians who were living outside of the borders, so I tried to get to know them better. This is how I met with CsabaMészáros, whobecameaclose friend of mine. He came from a small town near Nagyvárad just beside the Hungarian border. During the winter break, he invited me and one of my friends to visit his hometown. He wanted to show us his family’s fruit plantation which needed some special work in the winter months. I was very happy that he gave me such an opportunity to get to know that Hungarian community better. I agreed immediately. My parents gave me extra food like butter, coffee and chocolate for Csaba’s family because we knew that these foods were in short supply in Romania. We traveled down by train and after our arrival to Romania I could not believe my eyes how differently the people were living here. The houses were clean but very poor, and Csaba explained to us that there is a shortage of everything from gasoline to food and electricity. The Mészáros family was very happy when we gave them our gifts, and they compensated us with a real Transylvanian-Hungarian dinner. They told us that Hungarians work very hard, but cannot get better living conditions because the political circumstances for Hungarians were terrible. The Romanian leadership tried to suppress Hungarians from all their national culture and traditions by forbidding the circulations of Hungarian newspapers and teaching of the language in schools. The only way for them to keep their cultural identity was to use their traditions and native languages at home and in their Hungarian community with a hope that the future will bring them better times. Then I understood why the knowledge of Hungarian language and traditions were so strong for Hungarians living in Romania. It meant for them the only des with their native national and cultural identity. We finished the garden work in a few days, and we left the country with deep impressions. The Mészáros family wanted to pay us some money, but we could not accept it, because we knew that they needed it much more than we did. We were happy that we were able to help them. I learned much more during this trip than anybody could have hoped for. I understood how lucky we were to live in a society where we can use and enjoy our cultural heritages that we learned from our parents and grandparents, and we must keep them at any price. PagcS
