Magyar News, 2002. szeptember-2003. augusztus (13. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2002-12-01 / 4. szám
For many years the Hungarian Studies of America has been conducting a Hungarian school in Fairfield, CT. Gyula Egervári, President showed us around the first evening when the registration was going on. It was very impressive, sometimes so crowded that “students” had to wait in the corridor to get in. The successful school teaches language, culture, traditions and history. The participants are grouped into different levels according to their knowledge of the language, and in a way of how Filling out the registration forms much they know about the culture. We wish them a good school year, and hope that they will put their knowledge to a test in reality, visiting Hungary during the summer vacation. J.F.B. Gyula Egervári, President Dr. Éva Morócz, teacher Joseph Gergely, treasurer Zsuzsa Lengyel, Director When I was a child in Hungary, I was spending my school vacations in the village of my parents. There I learned about quite a few persons who for one reason or another are singled out and brought into focus. There were the good and the bad. Among these was an elderly man called Marczi bácsi (uncle Marczi). Everybody respected him, he was sort of wise man of the village. Being a widower he didn’t keep any cattle or pigs, he just set up a poultry yard and a vegetable garden. Come fall, there was hardly anybody in the village who didn’t go to see this garden. The main attraction were his pumpkins. They were huge, they had no competition. When asked how he does it, he only said it was the fertilizing. In those days one never went to the store for fertilizer, the conclusion was that it came from the chicken coop. Well, as long as it worked. These were my thoughts as I opened the Connecticut Post and saw a huge, 821 pound pumpkin hugged by Dr. David Garrell, on the front page. What really caught my eye was the name that was given to the pumpkin; it was ZOLTÁN. No other nation or people in the world has this name, only the Hungarians. So I called Dr. Garrell and asked him about it. I didn’t go into any medical questions like did he use a syringe to give it growth shots, or was it genetically modified. I was more interested in the name; Zoltán. As it turned out Dr. Garrell fertilized it the old fashion way. As far as the name, I found out that Dr. Garrell sat down with his wife and they decided that this Pumpkin has a special personality, therefor deserves a name. They gathered name books, the kind people use when there is a newborn, and were looking for a suitable name. It was hard work. One was to babyish, other too exotic, there were some considered to be faulty, and so on. They finally settled. One of his patients, a solid man with integrity also had an influence in the name giving. A retired Lieutenant Colonel in the USA forces, a patient of the doctor, is Hungarian and bears the name Zoltán. The circle was closed. As you see Hungarian things pop up in strange places and in strange ways. If Dr. Garrell in the future still plans to use his magical medical wand to grow pumpkins of distinction, he could still rely on Hungarian names, there are many good ones we could offer. J.F.B. Page 3 ZOLTÁN THE PUMPKIN MAGYAR ISKOLA
