Fraternity-Testvériség, 2010 (88. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2010-01-01 / 1. szám
Obituaries Spring 2010 Steven (Steve) Mischak, 72, of Hobart, passed away at 11:41pm on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Hobart. He was born on April 9th, 1937, in Budapest, Hungary to the late Karoly Mischak and Ilona Eisenhammer. On July 20th, 1963, he married Katherine (Kati) Mischak (NEE Gardi). Mr. Mischak is survived by his loving wife of 46 years and his three sons, Steve (Rebecca) Mischak of Palos Park, Illinois; László (Renee) Mischak of South Bend, Indiana; Thomas (Karen) Mischak of St. John, Indiana; and 8 grandchildren. Steve was a Freedom Fighter during the Hungarian revolution before leaving Hungary on December 30th, 1956, at the tender age of 19. He left Hungary alone, leaving his widowed mother and family behind; he could not see getting married and raising a family under Communist rule. He set his sights for the promising opportunities of the United States to build a family with a future and to chase the American Dream. Steve found work cleaning the slag pits in the steel mills of Gary. He studied hard and quickly learned the English language. After being laid off, he started a new, promising career with NIPSCO (electric utility) where he worked for 36.5 years before finally retiring on June ist, 1994. At NIPSCO, he went through a serious of training and certification regiments, earning the equivalent of 3 years of college credits. Steve was promoted through the ranks and finished his career as a substation electrician crew leader; he was very proud of the work he performed and the relationships that he established. Steve was an avid reader (in both English and Hungarian) and would often immerse himself in his many books, periodicals and newspapers of the world. His favorite subject was world history, and he was particularly fond of World War II literature. He also collected historical memorabilia and authored a 600+ page memoir detailing his own life experiences as related to historical and significant events of the time. The memoir was never meant to be published in his lifetime, per his wishes. He was active with the Holy Trinity Council and the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America’s (HRFA) Kossuth Club, working as the recording secretary for 14 years for Branch 176 where he wrote numerous articles for the Fraternal magazine. Steve’s greatest pleasure was traveling (many times at Kati’s prompting) and spending time with his family. He treasured his time telling stories and teaching his grandchildren how to draw. He loved his wife, his 3 sons, and grand kids: Jack 11, Katie 9, Nicole 9, Emily 8, Maddie 7, Gracie 6, Sam 6 and Meagan 2. He was a great husband, loving father, grandfather, brother-in-law, uncle, friend and teacher and will be deeply missed by all who knew him. My family and I would like to thank all the wonderful friends who sent generous donations to the HRFA Student Aid Fund in memory of Steve (István) Mischak. Kati Mischak Helen Fogarassy (September 9,1926-December 25, 2009) Helen Fogarassy was born in Szombathely, Hungary on September 9,1926 to Clemens and Helene Skerl. She passed away December 25, 2009 at Miller's Merry Manor, Hobart, IN. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, John Fogar- assy-Alsovisti; her first child, Marika Fogarassy and loving parents: Clemens and Helene Skerl. She is survived by her loving daughter, Helen C. Fogarassy-Johnston (Robert); loving son, Steve (Freya) Fogarassy; along with daughters: Stephanie Fogarassy and Amity Clair (Dan) Schkyer; great grandsons: Zachary and Ben Schlyer and brothers: Joseph and Fr. Alphonse Skerl. Helen was a product of Catholic schools: Francis Joseph Teachers' College of Szekes- fehérvár of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ and the University of Szeged, where she received a Master's Degree in Education. She taught for 20 years in Gyula, first in the Catholic schools unit of 20 Steven Mischak (April 9,1937-Oct 17th, 2009)
