Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1944 / Verhovay Journal
August 31, 1944 Verhovay Journal Page 7 THE HOMESTEAD MERRY-GO-ROUNDTwo Ambulance Planes Dedicated PITTSBURGH NEWS FRONT: “Magyar Day—August 10th” Thursday, August 10th, dawned forth bright and cheerful and to all appearances the stage was set for a highly successful Magyar Day. Our Hungarian Mothers were at their appointed places long before the noon hour, and the smell of stuffed cabbage and other Hungarian dishes filled the air. The usual hustle and bustle centered around the kitchens, the ticket booths and other centers of Magyar resistance. “Fank” was being turned out by the bushelful. My what preparation, and what enthusiasm! But it was genuine and greatly needed. The site of this Magyar Day, Kennywood Park, began to take on the semblance of a Magyar picnic shortly after the noon hour and Magyars and their friends invaded the Park singly, in pairs and in carsful. The occasional glimpse of Magyar lasses wearing the red, white and green colored skirts, and red blouses added needed color to the Magyar Day outing. But the best was to come at a later hour. The big program of the day got under way in the early afternoon but was unfortunately marred by the mechanical failure of the public address system. This made the latter half of the program quite dull and uninteresting to the majority of those present at the auditorium. The speeches, by Mr. Ignác Lengyel and the Rev. Julius Paal of Munhall, Pa. were excellently delivered and contained much food for thought. However, the program lacked a completeness of previous years. Of course, the naming of the air ambulances helped somewhat in alleviating this obvious emptiness; but still the program lacked many of the items that made it the “event” of past Magyar Days. I was quite fortunate to be on hand for this affair and noted some interesting faces and persons there. For instance there was Mr. and Mrs. James Sakocy with their young daughter seemingly all excited about her first Magyar Day outing; Mr. and Mrs. Alex W. Paharik with their young son in company with Mrs. Ternik of Rankin, Pa.; our MP from down Ft. McClelland way but Ft. Meade bound, Pvt. Andy Timko, surrounded by a group of women, his wife and two daughters, his mother, Mrs. Timko of Whitaker, his sisters, Mrs. M. Pesta and Mrs. Tomchick, and his auntie, Mrs. Tirpák; Mr. and Mrs. George Perenyi pf Ninth Avenue resting peacefully on the Park bench near the Old Mill; Rev. Bogár and wife busily engaged in serious conversation with Rev. and Mrs. Julius Paal from Homestead; Mr. and Mrs. Leadbeater, entering the Park—Mrs. Leadbeater is the former Sara Kozma of Hazelwood; this young pair has been married now for eight months. They’re newly-weds! Towering, red-faced John Elek of Terrace standing talking with fi cheerful group near the Merry- Go-Round stand; smiling Jimmy Toth and his dark haired wife. BRANCH 430 Margaret, stopping to chat with Johnny Usko of E. Pgh.; dashing Bert Priam headed for the dance hall and a good time; Dr. Stephanie Sebestyen, wife Of Dr. John Sebestyen, slowly strolling around the Park with a friend of hers; Joe and Lillian Beda appearing happy and contented but keeping a weather eye peeled for young Skippy’s antics. Mr. J. Petrus, Mr. G. Sulinchak and Mr. Miklós Kish chatting with my in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. John Toth of Munhall; Steve and Ethel Paulovitch along with Rose Kurucz stopping to watch the fun in the shooting gallery; Captain Gus Nagy of McKeesport meeting his many friends; Frank Toth and his wife, Elvira, giving their well-nourished and pretty youngster a buggy ride; Mrs. Bert Kuhn with her son, Bert, Jr. of Homestead, following them on their trip through the Park. Emma Moskal and her good friend, Ann Baksi alighting from a 68 trolley; Frank Mihok and his wife, Eleanor, quietly moving along observing the activity of the amusements. And so it went —familiar faces and happy faces —yet some in other moods and temperaments. MILITARY VIEWS FROM EVERYWHERE: Pfc Jim Gabocy, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. Gabocy of Munhall, is now in an American hospital in England recuperating from wounds received in the Normandy battle. His brother, Lt. Steve Gabocy is also in the battle zone. Pfc Rudy Kurucz, stationed in Tampa, Florida, with the Signal Corps, arrived home on Tuesday evening, August 8th, and departed for camp on August 21st. I had the good fortune to meet up with Rudy and I spent an interesting hour talking with him. He is sün-tanned and rugged looking. He has been in Florida for the past eighteen months, his unit being attached to the Air Corps. His brother, Edward, is somewhere in South Carolina at this writing. But faithful, good natured Mike, his senior, and the eldest of the brothers, is in France with the tank corps and without a doubt fighting under General Patton. He was unquestionably in on the famous “breakthrough” and possibly when this column will be published he will be drinking French wine in now gay Paree. Pfc Johnny O’Brien continues his studies in radio at Madison, Wisconsin. According to information received, he is doing exceptionally well and should be graduated soon. Frank Zadory who claims the Navy as his present home is due home around September 5th—and I’ll bet he’ll have a tough time accustoming himself to dry land again—why he’s been at Camp Sampson for the past five weeks. Cpl Johnny Katrincsak, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Katrincsak of West Homestead, departed for his new air station on Thursday morning, August 17th. He reported to the Westover Army Air base, Westover, Massachusetts that same evening for assignment. He has been trained and graduated as an aerial gunner and radioman. In talking with him, he left with me the impression of being well schooled and considerably advanced. I feel certain that the year’s training received in the various schools and air bases has fitted him better not only for service with Uncle Sam but also for the future which is his. Always smiling and pleasant Pvt. Andy Timko, former Homestead policeman and sports leader, concluded a very enjoyable but short ten day furlough on Wednesday evening, August 10th when he departed for his new station, Fort Geo. G. Meade, Md. There he will become part of the Army Ground Forces with the future unpredictable as the Army itself. Andy «has been in the service for the past four months completing his basic training at Ft. McClelland, Alabama. He’s a good soldier and a real pal to all. Sgt. Johnny Gyure, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. Gyure of Lea St. is enjoying a well-deserved eighteen day furlough. He took a fishing trip with his Dad several weeks ago and I believe he and his Dad caught sufficient fish to cause Mrs. Gyure to put aside ration worries for a while; and 1 don’t believe this is a fish story,, either. You know they are both enthusiastic hunters and fishermen. DISTRICT HAPPENINGS: Mr. and Mrs. Francis Fitzgibbons of 21st Avenue, are the proud parents of a baby boy born around the 1st of August at the Mercy Hospital. Mrs. Fitzgibbons is the former Madge Kondis of Munhall. This is their first child and both Mother and baby are doing finq. Mrs. G. Kish of Shady Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. John Petruszan of Munhall and Mrs. Elizabeth Hayward of Sq. Hill departed on Thursday evening, August 10th to attend a church convention in Ohio. They returned to Pittsburgh on Sunday evening, August 13th. Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Kulpa with son Edmund and daughter Peggy Lou visited in the East the week of July 23rd. They sojourned for a while with Mrs. Sándor Wallacky in Wheehocken, N. J. and also visited with Mr. and Mrs. Julius Perenyi at Cliffside, N. J. A welcome is to be extended Father Nyiri who assumed the duties of pastor of St. Margaret’s R. C. Church in Munhall on August 6th. He replaced Father Benedict who had taken care of the spiritual needs of the congregation for the past two years. Much success to you Father Nyiri! IMPRESSIONS AND REFLECTIONS Little has ever been said of the work of our quiet, softspoken treasurer, John Szalanczy, of Chicago. Mr. Szalanczy supervises, at the Home Office, duties that are of utmost importance to the Verhovay Association and its members. I refer to his handling of money, purchasing and selling of bonds and a few preferred stocks, and being constantly on the alert as the ‘'watchdog” of our treasury. The latest report issued by the Home Office on the purchase and sale of bonds for the first six months of this year tells a story, and a good one. It unfolds to us the story of hard work and more hard work, bearing fruit. The bonds sold were with the exception of a few small items sold at a profit and any loss encountered was absolutely negligible. If we note the type of purchases made, we will discover that the bonds purchased American Hungarians of Western Pennsylvania witnessed on Hungarian Day, at Kennywood Park, August 10th, 1944, the dedication of two ambulance planes, named resp. “Spirit of American Hungarian,” and '“American Hungarians of McKeesport”. A truly beautiful program was prepared by Mrs. Tarnopowicz, Associate State Administrator, U. S. Treasury Dept., chairman of the Nationality Groups, and Mrs. Mazura, chairman of the American Hungarian War Bond Committee. Mrs. Francis Tarnopowicz offered welcome to the audience, Mrs. Stephen Mazura gave a report on the activities of the Committee, Father I. Koller of St. Ann’s R. C. Church offered the prayer, Mr. Frank Demes, Jr., brother of Mrs. Mazura gave a moving rendition of “Say a prayer for the Boys Over There.” He was accompanied by his young sister, Miss Goldie Demes. Then followed the dedication ceremony under the direction of Mrs. Tarnopowicz. The “Spirit of American Hungarian” was christened by Mrs. Mazura, and the “American Hungarian, McKeesport” was christened by Mrs. Fred Stipkovitz, chairman, and Mrs. Ludwig Jania, Mrs. Andrew Buck, Co-Chairmen. The dedication was followed by the beautiful rendition of the song “Angels of Mercy” by Miss Martha Henzi who also was accompanied by Miss Demes. Then the program closed with an address by Mrs. Tarnopowicz. Space does not permit us to name the 109 ladies who worked hard for the success of this drive. They achieved in War Bond sales a total of $506,150, an amount far in excess of the price of the two planes. However we should mention those who at this time received citations from the U. S. Treasury Dept. will return to us a fair yield continually with absolute security being maintained throughout the life of the bond. The incidents of the past along these lines could have been dispatched in better form; but the present and future are in efficient hands. Keep up the good work, Brother Szalanczy. Watch on Jr. Order The past six to twelve months our association has not been entirely successful in its attempt to plug the membership leak in the juvenile order. In fact the leak has become larger and more juvenile members are flowing away seldom to return. The seriousness of , this situation should be realized by those in charge, and efforts made to remedy a bad condition. I believe an investigation or complete check should be launched to discover why we have been losing so many juvenile members, and just what steps could be undertaken to bring about a complete stop to this loss. The strength of an organization is customarily shown in its youth, and this has been true of Verhovay, but today we are standing by with apparently little or no action contemplated or being taken to conserve cur present strength. Equal stress should be laid on the securing of members as well as on the retaining of these members. Something should be done—and soon! My suggestions along these lines will appear in my next column. Citations were awarded to: Mrs. Louis Kucher; Mrs. Fred Stipkovitz; Mrs. Alexander Rick; Mrs. Sue Sabo; Mrs. Ludwig Jania; Mrs. Andrew Buck; Mrs. Jenny Philipp; Miss Elizabeth Schwab; Mrs. Nicholas Kadar; St. Ann’s Altar and Rosary Society, of Hazelwood, Pa.; Ladies Branch, East Pittsburgh Singing Society; Reverend Nicholas Varkonyi; The Ameircan Hungarian War Bnod Committee Chapters of Homestead, Duquesne, Leechburg, McKeesport; The “Magyarság”; The “Verhovayak Lapja”; The “Amerikai Magyar Népszava”; and the “Szabadság.”---------------V--------------SHARON, PA. Branch 26. ANNOUNCEMENT Due to the recent bereavement in my family I must request that members who cannot pay their dues at the regular monthly meetings, bring them to my home, not later than the 20th of each month, in the evenings between 6 and 8 PM. Kindly observe these hours. My address is: 799 Baldwin Ave.» Sharon, Pa. Fraternally, THOMAS KUTI, Manager. STEPHEN B. SZARAZ of 1502 Hamilton St., New Castle, Pa., is a member of Branch 66 in the same city. He is serving in our armed forces as an Aviation Cadet. I TO THE CONTRIBUTORS The English Section is published the SECOND and LAST Thursday of every month, except when holidays intervene, and the Thursdays IM MEDIATELY preceding them are the final dates. Contributions intended for the September 14 issue should be in before or on Sept. 7* Address contribution to ENGLISH SECTION, VERHOVAY JOURNAL, 345 FOURTH AVENUE, PITTSBURGH (22), PA. Contributions should be typewritten, if possible; but handwritten contributions are also acceptable. Typewritten Articles: Use one side of paper only, and double space. Contributors please confine articles to 1000 to 1200 words. Handwritten Articles: Make handwriting as legible as possible.
