William Penn Life, 2012 (47. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2012-03-01 / 3. szám

Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr.

Passing on family legacies

DURING THIS RECENT Karácsonyi holiday season, my father entrusted my siblings and me with a small parcel of old Magyar coins. He told us that ,with about a quarter of his life remaining, it was time to give to us the things he has been keeping and saving over these many years. "I want to you to appreciate and cherish these small fragments of our csalad's past," he told us. "If I wait and never pass on these mementos, they will end up misplaced, thrown out or sold at a garage sale whenever I go up to meet grandma and grandpa in heaven!"

This ritual of passing down a family legacy began not long after my Nagypapa Cseh passed away in 2004. It started when my brother and I were entrusted with my Dad's favorite boyhood toy, a Rifleman Winchester cap gun. (Remember Chuck Connors?) My sister got my greatgrandmother's Christmas tree that was brought over from Hungary (see my Dec. 2011 Take). This repeating ritual, so to speak, continues during each holiday season.

Initially, I felt this early endowment of family history was kind of creepy and morbid. But, after I thought about it, I began to understand the logic to my parents' thinking.

What made a difference in the toy gun and Karácsonyi fenyő becoming a family legacy was that with the gun came a detailed explanation of the meaning and history of that old used toy. Knowing what that item meant to my

dad instilled upon me a curator/preservationist attitude when considering that play rifle. My brother and I became the guardians and protectors of this sentimental jewel.

To further encourage our stewardship of our play rifle, our family began to watch reruns of "The Rifleman" on a cable television channel that airs classic television shows. Ironically, we really got into watching those old black and white classics. As a family, we would all sit down and watch the program along with a piece of kalács or pogácsa. One day my brother Endre brought up a very astute analogy concerning The Rifleman: "Dad identifies Chuck Connors as The Rifleman the way you and I do with Chuck Norris as Walker Texas Ranger!"

I remember back in 2004 when my Grandpa Cseh passed. Although he was nearly 80 years old, no one was expecting him to pass so quickly and unexpectedly. Although he had a will, the really hard part was breaking up of his house. My édes nagymama had passed nearly 11 years prior to my nagypapa, so there was no one left in the house to inherit the everyday items. Another problem was getting rid of the items of sentimental value. The obstacle was not who was to get the items, but it was in what to keep, to sell or throw out?

The biggest hurdle in breaking up my gramp's house was handling the Hungarian records that had accumulated in his basement. Most of the records were 78 RPM discs. My mom had me count them; I stopped after reaching the 5,000 mark. I estimate there were at least twice that many I did not count. My father and mother didn't know what to do with them all.

They all were donated by listeners to our radio program. My father recalls the time he and my gramps went up way north of Toronto to collect an entire pickup truckload of 78's. An elderly Magyar gent wanted to give his collection of discography to someone that could use them. We eventually kept only about a thousand of the

Point to Ponder....

As mentioned by my sister Erzsi in the March 2012 Wordsearch, Louis Kossuth left America a disappointed man. He was loved by the common American but was loathed by the monied people and politicians. His “Waterloo” was not committing to the slavery issue one way or another. My question is one of deep historical analysis. Being a lover of freedom, choice and independence, Kossuth should have only had one viewpoint on emancipation and that was of freedom for all. What do you think about Kossuth’s omission on the slavery issue? - Tibor

6 ° March 2012 0 William Penn Life