Verhovayak Lapja, 1949 (32. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1949 / Verhovay Journal

September 2i, 1949________________________

DEGREE OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEMBER COVETED VERHOVAY SERVICE AWARD

— New gold emblem and diploma conferring degree reward of Service and Loyalty to Association. —

Reports on presentations of Yerhovay Service Awards often appear in our Journal but we don’t recall ever having run as many stories and advance notices of presentation ceremonies as in this particular issue. On August 14th, at the Eastern Verhovay Day, presentation of the award was made posthumously to the late Albert B. Ari, Vice-President and Chairman of the Board of our Association and, on the same occasion, Adam Simon, Jr., of New Brunswick, John Zakopcsan of Passaic, Valentine Csete of Perth Amboy, Frank Lizák of Manville, and Michael Puskas of New Brunswick received their awards in the presence of one thousand members and friends of the Verhovay.

On September 25th, presentation of the Award will be made to Joseph Szalay, former Vice-President of the Association, President of Branch 14, in the Cleveland Verhovay Home where a banquet will be given in his honor on the occasion of his 35th service anniversary as an officer of the Branch.

On October 9th similar honor will be bestowed upon Andrew Dobos, Jr., former Director, and Anton Tankovich, at a banquet given in their and former Ohio Assistant Attorney General Joseph Fodor’s honor by Branch 129, Columbus, Ohio, in the Croation Hall, 377 Reeb St. The Hon. Frank J. Lausche, Governor of Ohio, a member of Cleveland Branch 14, the Mayor of Columbus and. other notabilities will be present at this important event.

On October 23rd, Joseph Drotos, President of Branch 45, and John Mikula, Comptroller of the branch, will receive these awards at a banquet to be given in their honor at the Slovene Hall on Dennison Avenue, West Side, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Service Award presentations having become lately such frequent occurrences, most of the Verhovay members recently admitted and many of our older members may wonder what it is all about. Some information seems to be in order, especially at this time, because some changes in the form of the award had been effected, by action of the Board of Directors.

The advisability of according some sort of special recognition to members who had rendered outstanding service to the Association, was considered for some time by the directors and officers of the Association. Finally, in September, 1937, the Board of Directors created three degrees of honor to be bestowed upon deserving members in recognition of unusual contributions made to the advancement of the Association and in the service of the membership. “Appreciated,” “Acknowledged” and “Honored” were the terms selected as designations of these honors. However, only the first two were actually used, while the “Honored” title was never awarded.

THE CASH VALUE OF A GOOD WIFE

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every bit of left-overs and use them for some other dish. She will save the pennies and not waste the dollars.

A hired housekeeper cannot be expected to be that considerate of her employer’s pocketbook. She’ll hurry with her marketing to get it over with. She will tell Mr. Widower that new shirts have to be purchased for the kids because the old ones are not worth patching up. Housekeeping expenditures inevitably will be higher and according to moderate estimates the difference will be at least $3,000 for the period of twelve years.

Naturally, the housekeeper cannot replace the wife and the mother, her affections, her understanding and all the other qualities that cannot be evaluated in terms of money. But judging from the above, the value of her work is not inconsiderable either. It adds up, over a period of twelve years, to the neat sum of $26,200 ar/1 that on the standards of a small wageearner.

In other words, if the father of two little children loses his wife, he is out of $26,200 in cash ... a terrific liability that has broken the backbone of many an unfortunate widower.

Yet, there are plenty of men who claim that $500 or $1,000 insurance is “plenty for Mary”!

Funny thing, though, that a man who owns a 2000 dollar automobile will not consider $200 insurance sufficient, because he knows that in the case of complete loss he could not replace the car from the proceeds of the small policy. And a man who owns a 15,000 dollar home, will not be satisfied with one thousand dollar fire, etc., insurance, because he knows that in the case of complete loss he could not replace that home from the proceeds of the small policy. But he is perfectly satisfied to put 500 dollar insurance on his wife, whose work alone is worth to him $26,200 over a period of twelve years, not to speak of her emotional value which, of course, cannot be insured as it cannot be replaced at any cost.

If you had a possession worth $26,200 in hard cash, would you be satisfied with insuring it for 500 or 1,000 dollars?

Of course, someone may object, the whole proposition is purely theoretical, because no small wag^ earner can insure his wife for $26,200.00, nor can he pay anything like that money for replacing her services. That’s the reason, why most youngwidowers marry soon after their wives’ death. For them it is an economic necessity, if nothing else.

Journal

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Presentatien of the first awards in both the “Appreciated” and “Acknowledged” class were made in March, 1938. Altogether 32 members received the “Appreciated” title until 1940 when by action of the Convention this and the “Honored” title were discontinued and only the “Acknowledged” award was retained. Since the institution of the award, altogether 124 members have - received the “Acknowledged” title, many of whom are no longer among the living.

Originally, the diplomas conferring these titles were written in Hungarian and the word “Acknowledged” is a literal, though somewhat inadequate, translation of the Hungarian word “elismert.” Together with the diploma, often called a ‘scroll’, a silver medal, attached to a chain, was presented to the members thus honored. Though decorative, the rather outsized medal did not lend itself to everyday use and was seldom worn, which, in a way defeated its purpose. Therefore, in view of the inadequacy of the designation of the degree of honor and the impractical size and design of the medal, it was decided to change the form of this award to better conform to American customs. A new diploma, printed only in English, and an entirely different emblem had been designed early this year and the members thus honored" now receive their awards in its new form.

The framed diploma, a beautiful creation of printing art, bears the following printed text:

VERHOVAY FRATERNAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION Pittsburgh, Pa.

To All To Whom These Present Shall Come, Greetings.

Know ye that..........................................................a member of Branch

Is awarded herewith the degree of Illustrious Member in recognition of . . . SERVICE AND LOYALTY in advancing the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association and its program of fraternal protection, patriotic service, social betterment and humanitarian endeavour.

Issued by the Act of the Board of Directors, m Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the ........ day of ............................. 19 .........

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association has caused its Corporate Seal and the signatures of its National Officers to be affixed on this Certificate of Honor.

National President National Secretary

National Auditor National Treasurer

The silver medal has been replaced with a beautiful gold emblem, to be worn on the coat-lapel, bearing the inscription “Service Loyalty” and “VFIA”.

Those who have received, together with those who have seen, the award in its new form, were unanimously enthusiastic about both the diploma and the emblem. In fact, there were many among the witnesses of the last presentations who said that they, too, would like to win Verhovay’s coveted Service Award. Hence a few words about the requirements are in order.

Upon written petition of the members of the Branch of which the person to be honored is a member, and upon approval by the Field Manager in charge, the Board of Directors will confer the Degree of Illustrious Member with the diploma and the gold service emblem to a member who has served continuously at least 15 years as an officer of one branch, or to a member who has served in various offices, with interruptions, in any number of branches, for at least 25 years, or to a member who has secured over a certain period, and retained for at least one year, at least 75 new members, or to full-time employees of the Association who have completed 15 years of satisfactory service. The Degree of Illustrious Member will also be conferred upon National Officers and members of the Board of Directors after 12 years of service in such capacity.

Upon the death of an Illustrious Member a beautiful wreath is sent to the bereaved family by the Association. It is suggested, therefore, that the Home Office be notified by telegram whenever an Illustrious Member returns to his eternal reward, in order that the Association may not be prevented by delay from rendering this final tribute.

Allright, suppose Mr. Widower, aware that he cannot afford to hire a satisfactory housekeeper, decides to get re-married. Can he turn away from the grave of his wife and grab the first woman who crosses his way? Surely not. He will have to find a suitable person first, a woman to whom he can in good conscience entrust the care of his children and the maintenance of his home. That’s no small order. As a rule, a widower would hardly be in position to remarry within a year after his wife’s death. Suppose he is lucky enough to find a good woman who agrees to be a good wife to him, a good mother to his children and a good home-maker for all of them. He still has to provide for a house-keeper for the year that elapses between the death of his first wife and his remarriage. If the cash value of a good wife’s services is $26,200 for a period of twelve years, then he will still have to put up one-twelfth of that amount for one year, or $2,200. That much he must have clear after paying for the costs of the illness and the burial of his wife. If we set these latter costs at the very.moderate amount of $800, then, obviously, he would have to have $3,000 insurance on his wife’s life, if he is to be able to replace her work only, nothing else, for a period of one brief year . . .

Yet, there are plenty of men who claim that $500 or $1,000 insurance is “plenty for Mary.”

Indeed, it is plenty for Mary, for where she is, she doesn’t need any insurance. It is her husband and her children who are in sore need of that insurance which Mr. Widower failed to get while there still was a chance of doing so, because he underestimated the cash value of his wife ... a *