Verhovayak Lapja, 1950 (33. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1950 / Verhovay Journal
DECEMBER 20, 1950 12 Season’s Greetings To All Verhovayans! — Active Fraternalism Part Of The American Way Of Life. — If it were not for the annual recurrence of the Christmas holiday, we could well despair of humanity ever attaining the “Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward all Mankind" promised by the heavenly host on that silent night, holy night, nineteen and a half centuries ago, when Christ was born. Even so, the dark clouds of world-wide calamities paint a dreadful background to the cheerful scenes of Christmas celebrations reproduced millions of times in the homes of war-weary, peace-loving Americans. Three times in half a century the youth of our nation has been called upon to cross the seas to defend the American way of life against its mortal fqes who after each defeat seem to i rise in increasing strength determined to break the one nation in the world w hose constitution and philosophy is based on the teachings of Christ. And with each new conflict we become more and more aware of the fact that we can survive only if in our aims and principles we adhere to His teachings, if in our way of life we follow' in His footsteps and if we are ready to defend and to maintain at any cost each and every one of those principles, policies, convictions, purposes and institutions the entirety of which has made our country into what it became in the course of its history. YVe know today that battlefield victories w'on’t assure our permanent safety. Neither will victories attained by our statesmen in international conferences. Nor will victories attained by various groups in their constant quest for a still higher standard of living create any lasting defense for the American way of life. The lasting defense assuring safety to thje future development of the American way of life must be built in the hearts of our people. It will be accomplished if the people become “one nation indivisible,” which it isn’t — yet. It is our goal: something to dream about, something to hope for, something to strive for. But with an urgency greater than ever. Because the hour is late and the danger is great and woe unto us if for only ,a moment we lose sight of our national goal. Each and every citizen has his place in this quest. YVhile the soldier fights on the battlefield, we at home must make our stand wherever fate has placed us. There is some part of the great American heritage, which we can and must defend at home. The American way of thinking, which essentially is the Christian way of thinking, must be defended and upheld in the industries, in the world of labor, art, science against whatever enemies may be trying to undermine it right at home. It must be defended and upheld in the homes, in the churches, in the schools and in the innumerable organizations, societies and institutions to the development of which this country has unstintingly given unlimited freedom. Among these is fraternalism, particularly our own brand of fraternalism, •as an essential part of the American way of life. The help our Yrerhovay I-.LA., has given to thousands and thousands of widows and orphans, aged and „ick, during the nearly 65 years of its existence has saved innumerable unfortunates from losing their hope in a better future: something our country has always given to every one of its citizens. In this, like in many other ways of practical fraternalism, the Verhovay, too, has helped establish and maintain the American way of life and it is going to continue to do so in a measure that will grow with the Association's growth. Thus, the Verhovay, too, becomes a line of defense not to be yielded easily, not to be given up without a heroic fight, It is something worth defending even at a sacrifice, not only' for what it already has accomplished, but even more so for what it will accomplish in a brighter future. ' YVhateyer we do for the strengthening of our Association, we do first of all for our own future, for our families, ^nd, in the last analysis, for our country. Stepping through Christmas into a new year, it behooves us to ask ourselves: are we doing anything for the Verhovay? And if we are doing anything for the strengthening and future development of our Association, it behooves us to ask: couldn’t we do more for the Verhovay? That is: couldn’t we do more for our own future, for our children’s future and for our country’s future? Essentially, this is what we are trying to do: by providing family protection through the means of insurance and fraternal benefits we are trying to strengthen our nation. We are trying to protect all of our members against any danger to the American way of life they now enjoy. And in this task we will succeed if more and more Americans will join our family and if the membets of our family will assume a share in strengthening our Association as one of the lines of defense of the American way of life. To this task we invite our membership and in the accomplishment of this task we wish our fellow-members a happy New Year. JOHN BENCZE, National President, COLOMAN REVESZ, National Secretary, JOHN SZALANCZY, National Treasurer, JOHN SABO, National Auditor, HENRY RETTMANN, Field Manager, JULIUS MACKER, Chairman of the Board, Vice- Pres., ANDREW KOVÁCS, M.D., Vice-President. ALOYSIUS C, FALUSSY, HENRY GROSS, JOHN A. HORNYAK, COLOMAN KOLOZSVARY, MIKE KOROSSY, STEPHEN LANG, STEPHEN NYERS, RICHARD PHILLIPS, JOSEPH S. TAYLOR, JOSEPH TURNER,-LOUIS VIZI, Directors, SAMUEL GOMORY, M.D., Medical Adviser, STEPHEN MATASSY, Legal’ Counsel, ALEXANDER NYIRATI, CASPAR PAPP, WILLIAIm C. KOHUT, Auditors, ELMER CHARLES, FRANK J. CHER, FRANK WUKOVITS, Field Supervisors, and the HOME OFFICE OF THE VERHOVAY FRATERNAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION. Coloman Revesz 1951 President Of Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress — Y'erhovay National Officer elected President for first time in history of largest fraternal congress in U.S. — MR. COLOMAN REVESZ Americans of Hungarian origin and their fraternal organizations, including the Verhovay F.I. Association, were especially honored at the thirty-ninth annual convention of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress, held on November 14-15 at Hotel Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia, Pa., by the election of Coloman Révész, National Secretary of the Verhovay F.I.A., as the President of this organization representing nearly 100 fraternal societies with a total membership of close to a million. During the current year, Mn Révész served as the first Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress in which position he was succeeded by R. D. Robinson of the Maccabees Life Insurance Society. To the second vice-presidency, which Mr. Revesz held in 1949, the Convention elected Melania Lukasiak, officer of the Union of Polish Women in America. In addition to Mr. Revesz, (two Pittsburgh fraternalists had been elected to the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress: Mr. V. S. Platek of the National Slovak Society and Mr. 'John Br.dovinac of the Croation Fraternal Union of America. An excellent, highly , educational, and in many instances inspiring program was presented during the two-day session of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress. Leading officers of the various member-societies reported for the standing committees, discussing every phase of fraternal activities. Mr. Revesz has represented the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association in the Pennsylvania Fraternal Congress for a number of years and served on its various committees many times. It is in recognition of his outstanding services that he was elected President: the first Verhovayan, in fact the first officer of any Hungarian descendant fraternal organization to attain this great honor. For this not only congratulations are due to him but also an expression of sincere appreciation of the services by which he has won such important Recognition for the Verhovay F.I. Association. DETROIT BRANCH 443 OBSERVES 15th ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING — Fifteen years of rapid progress reviewed at annual meeting. — As previously announced, the 15th anniversary of Branch 443 was observed on Sunday, December 3, in the afternoon at the annual meeting of the Branch in the auditorium of the, former Verhovay Home. Opening the anniversary observance, Branch President Michael' Burdohan extended a cordial welcome to John Bencze, National President, Julius Macker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vice-President, and Richard Phillips, Director, thanking them for honoring the branch on its 15th birthday by their presence. Accompanied by John Brenkacs and his orchestra the audience then arose and sang the American and Hungarian national anthems. National President John Bencze •then addressed the membership of Branch 443 paying a warm tribute to all those officers and members of the branch who contributed to its marvelous progress throughout the 15 years of its existence. He emphasized, however, that the present manager, Joseph Szabó, had .borne the greatest share in the advancement of the branch and congratulating him he expressed the sincere hope that he will be able to continue serving the Association with such outstanding results for many years to come. Joseph Szabó, Manager, then presented an outline of the history of Branch 443. Organized on November 7, 1935, by Joseph Letenyei in the auditorium of the Hungarian Reformed Church at Dearborn Street, the branch started out with 45 members, among whom 15 were of the Juvenile Order. This first meeting was attended by Joseph Darago, then National President of the Association, Joseph Letenyei, then President of Branch 36, Alexander Gyulay, then District Manager, and Joseph Marczis of Br. 36. Elected as first officers of the new branch were Coloman Toth, President, Desiderius Kozma, Manager, and Michael Andre, Secretary. Half a year later, however, Manager Kozma resigned and was l-eplaced by Joseph Laczo who continued as manager of the branch until December 31, 1938. During this period the First Hungarian Young Peoples Society of Detroit joined Branch 443 and the Verhovay with 49 adult members. In 1939 Frank Ritecz became manager of the branch, however, he shortly transferred to Branch 36 and in October of the same year, died. In December, 1939, the membership elected Joseph Szabó as manager of the branch, who has been serving in this capacity ever since. (Continued on page 2)
