William Penn Life, 2011 (46. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2011-05-01 / 5. szám
Tibor s Take Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Cseh celebrate Christmas in the 1960's. da cimbalom for close to eight years now. Even though his biggest supporters are gone, surrogate patrons have replaced our dearly departed relatives to become his most staunch supporters. Margie Dubos or her sister Betty will sing along with Endre as he plays songs such as "The Priest's Pipe." Rudy and Nancy Gall, along with Andy and Lucy Smrekovsky, will come from the Cleveland area just to see him play. Irene Nemeth, Frank Tobias and Dee Gran of the Youngstown Elungarian Club consistently recruit my brother to play at several of the club's functions each year. Kathy Novak and Frank Schauer of the Youngstown Elungarian Grand Committee enlist Endre to perform at Magyar Nap and the 1848 Magyar commemoration ceremony. There are literally hundreds of Magyar-American supporters for me and my siblings. I consider them all "surrogate grandparents." Even though they are not directly related to me by blood or marriage, they are linked to me by ties just as strong-they are proud and happy to provide me with encouragement, Hungarian Style! Every other Saturday, our family makes a 90-mile round trip drive to broadcast "The Souvenirs of Hungary" radio show. As mentioned in earlier columns, my dad, grandpa and grandma took over the broadcast duties on Mother's Day 1979. Up until that time, a number Points to ponder.... WPA is sponsoring a fantastic two-week excursion to Elungary and Slovakia this fall. If you had your druthers, would you like to go on that vacation to Hungary? What other places in Hungary that are not part of this year’s tour would you like to visit? of hosts brought listeners of the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys a series of short-lived Magyar radio programs. Their desire to broadcast was there, but a long-term commitment and consistency were not. Because other nationalities wanted to take over our broadcast time slot, and the Magyar community could not provide a regular set of hosts, the possibility of losing the Magyar show was real. My gramps and dad took over the reins and continued every Saturday for decades. Sometimes my father couldn't make it due to family sickness, but his absences were due mainly because of treacherous winter traveling conditions. No matter what weather situation persisted, my Gram and Gramp Cseh were there to do the show. When grandpa passed away on Easter 2004, my dad attempted to do the show by himself each week. My mom, brother, sister and I would accompany him. We all pitched in, answering phone calls, engineering the show and talking over the airwaves. But, the real challenge was the travel and expense involved. As my siblings and I grew older, school activities and job commitments limited our ability to do the show each week. Luckily, Elizabeth Cibulas and Mr. and Mrs. Feri Schauer volunteered their services to continue the broadcast with their own personally formatted Magyar program on an alternating basis. For almost five years now, their diligence has made it possible for the program to continue. My sincere and eternal gratitude goes out to them. This Mother's Day will mark our show's 32nd anniversary. Once again, I thank my lucky stars that this trio of unpaid volunteers have stepped forward to help continue a broadcast tradition that now includes four different generations over five decades. In a different but similar fashion, they have helped to bridge the gap of losing my beloved grandparents. Boldog Anyák Napját! Happy Mother's Day! Tibor II Tibor Check Jr. is a member of Branch 28 Youngstown, Ohio, and a student at Cleveland State University. He serves as host of the “Souvenirs of Hungary” weekly radio show broadcast on WKTL-90.7 FM in Struthers, Ohio. Let's hear your take Let me know how you enjoy my thoughts and views on growing up Hungarian Style. If you have any questions or comments about me or my column, please email me at: SilverKingl937@yahoo.com, or drop me a letter in care of the William Penn Association, 709 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15233. William Penn Life 0 May 2011 0 9
