William Penn Life, 2013 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2013-04-01 / 4. szám
Tibor's Take providence and the utilization of the Internet—have been able to connect with our Magyar cousins. We knew we had relatives in Csőt but had no actual link to them. So, now, another story of kindred spirits. My dédanya (great-grandmother) Kadi Cseh wrote to her sisters and relatives in Hungary ever since she came to America in 1913. Upon her passing in 1971, my nagynéni (Aunt) Gena and nagyapa (Grandfather) Cseh continued to correspond with the relatives in Csőt. At that time, my apa knew of the cousins but took for granted the idea that his father and aunt would be there forever, performing the task of transoceanic communications. But, in 1998, Aunt Jenny had a massive stroke. She could no longer link with the Magyar relatives. My nagyapa continued to send messages, but that, too, ended when he passed away suddenly on Easter of 2004. The vital link of letter writing ceased to exist as my other aunt, uncle and American cousins had little interest in what was transpiring between the families of East and West. The addresses of those loved ones in Csot were either lost or thrown away upon the passing of nagyapa Cseh and Aunt Gena. As the years went by, my apa would tell my siblings and I how he regretted not taking the reins of responsibility to continue writing to the relatives in Veszprém Megye. When my apa and anya decided to join the WPA Tour in 2012, my apa discovered that on two occasions the tour would be as close as 12 and 40 miles away from his family's ancestral home. He made a small portfolio of the photos he had kept of relatives from that small little town. He hoped that arrangements could be made to travel to the village and look for relatives he had never met. Unfortunately, those arrangements fell through, and the rendezvous with destiny never materialized. When my apa and anya (mother) returned home from Hungary, my father resolved to somehow connect to his cousins an ocean away. Initially, my father made little headway in finding our long-lost relatives. Without a last name or an address, he could not find a way to connect. If you doubt that there is a God, what happened next could just possibly change your mind. The Cseh család Friday evenings are usually reserved for planning the play list for our "Souvenirs of Hungary" radio broadcast, which airs at noon on Saturdays. One Friday night late in October, my brother and I began to prepare for the "1956 Revolution Program." I retrieved a special set of records containing Magyar patriotic songs. As I carefully pulled one record from its sleeve, two envelopes fell out. I noticed they were addressed to "Mr. Endre Cseh, [##] Duncan Drive, Poland, Ohio, USA." Inside one of the envelopes was a karácsonyi (Christmas) greeting card. It had a short message handwritten in Hungarian. It was signed "Olga and Arpad." There was also a name and return address on the back of the envelope from someone living on Petőfi Street in Csőt, Hungary. In haste, I was about to throw away that old and faded parchment. I then thought maybe my apa should take a gander at it. So, as my brother was about to go upstairs with an armload of records, I handed him the letter and told him to give it to dad. Within a few seconds, 1 heard my apa loudly exclaim: "Where did you get this? I have been looking for something like this for weeks!" Needless to say, there was a lot of joy in the Cseh household that windy and rainy pentek (Friday). Those little tattered pieces of paper with just a few lines of neat printing proved to be the vital link necessary to complete our discovery of relatives we never met. My apa wrote to the address, sending a brief letter in Hungarian inquiring about our relatives. He also sent copies of the pictures once owned by my aunt and grandfather along with our email addresses. Low and behold, by the second week of November we began to receive, courtesy of the Internet, responses from Cousins Olgi and Zsuzsa. Since then, we have sent to each other hundreds of photographs. Letters have been mailed back and forth as well. The speed of the Internet has made the long and arduous task of connecting to our cousins in Hungary a speedy and comparatively simple realization. My sister and brother now send Facebook messages to our school aged cousins in Csőt. Through our communications with our unokatestvér (cousins), we have learned that the family has recently opened the town's only cake and sweet shop, called "Jutka!" I learned the village is named after Géza Csőt, a military leader. Of course, invitations to come, visit and stay are in almost every message. I have also learned that dear Aunt Gena sent in excess of 100 photos of the entire extended family from Youngstown, Detroit and Wisconsin. The relatives in Csőt have a much better account of the Kadi/Cseh family in America than I had ever imagined. There are many lessons to be learned from this process of linking to kindred spirits. Talk to all your relatives. Write down names, addresses and histories of your loved ones. If no one remains to answer questions about your family and the past, ask older friends about departed loved ones that you never met. Historical records in churches and clubs may also offer a link to your past. Good luck and remember the old adage: " If you don't know where you have been, how will you know where you are going?" Éljen a Magyar, Tibor II Tibor Check Jr. is a member of Branch 28 Youngstown, Ohio, and a student at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He serves as a 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 April 2013 0 7
