My Second Marriage
In the summer of 1981 Judy got the very tragic news from
her Aunt Ella that she lost her only son, Misike in a car accident. The whole
family was completely devastated, and she decided to go back to Hungary for a
short visit. They all grew very close to Judy during her first visit and her
presence in this trying time was very comforting to them. My little girl was
becoming a very independent young lady who was making all her own decisions. I
was not very surprised to learn after Judy came home from Budapest in September
that she was going to marry Michael, a very fine young engineer whom I had met
previously. I was very happy for them, but the sad part for me was that the
young couple would live in Texas, where Michael's job was located. Their
wedding took place on December 27th in the groom's hometown in the State of New
York, because Michael's parents would not fly to California. Louis and I flew
up there for the occasion and to spend a few days with the new in-laws and the
extended family. The wedding was beautiful, the Church was decorated with
Christmas flowers and fir branches, and puffy, huge snowflakes were falling
from Heaven.
Our old home in Camarillo seemed even more deserted with
Judy being not in town. George was pretty busy with his studies at USCB, seldom
came home on weekends; and Louis was preoccupied with his new job and career.
Our small home suddenly became too large for me and I decided to sell it. It
took a long time to find a qualified buyer, and finally the realtor bought it
up for rental property. Finding something affordable and feasible was just as
much of a problem, and I ended up buying a newer built two bedrooms, two baths
duplex with a small yard. I was in the middle of the moving when Judy gave
birth to Maureen, my first grandchild in December of 1983, and I was flying in
a hurry to Texas for a few days to hold my little granddaughter.
On the job at work everything went on schedule, and I got
promoted to the top of my pay scale. I worked thru all the branches of the
Accounting department and ended up in Disbursement, paying on the multi-million
dollars contracts to private companies. Much of my work was done on computers
utilizing the old IBM system. During that time I became very fond of a kind and
soft-spoken gentleman, Leonard, who was working in the Budgeting department,
and we started to date. On the following spring we had decided to get married
and our wedding took place on August 3, 1985. Louis was walking me down to the
altar, just like he had done it with his sister, four years ago. Leonard was a
widower with two grown sons and a brother and sister in upstate New York. Both
our families were very delighted with our decisions, and came to the ceremony.
It was a very joyful and a little tearful occasion, and my heart was singing
with happiness and hope.
The St. Mary Magdalen Chapel in Camarillo and one of the
thirteen stained glass windows in the Chapel. (See link below for further
information).
St. Mary Magdalen, Camarillo; Parish History.
Leonard and me after the Ceremony with my Matron of
Honor, Marika and Leonard's Best Man, Ray; at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Chapel
on August 3 1985.
Our newly extended family in the wedding reception at the
Church Hall.
A few days after the wedding Len and I flew up to Vancouver,
Canada to board a ship named Nordam to take a five day Alaskan cruise. The ship
was huge and we occupied a very comfortable room on the Promenade deck. I was a
bit afraid of getting seasick, and sure enough on the very first night a
violent storm hit us. The rest of the cruise was very pleasant and we enjoyed
the accommodation and the excellent cuisine. It was a lifetime experience of
cruising thru the icy waters of Glacier Bay, where the seawall was made out of
white-blue ice, and big chunks of ice were floating around the ship in the
ocean. Our ship docked at the cities of Ketchikan, Juneau and at the western
side of the peninsula, Sitka. We took side-trips and visited the cities, the
Rain Forest and the Glacier National Park.
The pictures below show Len, while the Nordam is docking
at Juneau, and me, enjoying the beauty of the Mendenhall Glacier, August 1985.
These two pictures were taken at the Captain's table on
our last evening, celebrating my birthday on board the Nordam, August 12, 1985.
Before we got married, Len had already decided on
retiring from the Civil Service; he sold his house and moved into my duplex. We
had to combine the two households and adjust our lifestyles to accommodate each
other's need. This was a big adjustment for me having been single so long, but
I went to work every day while Len stayed at home. In November George married a
beautiful and smart little girl, Tessie. They had met at UCSB and were planning
this wedding of theirs for a long time. I was very happy for them and it was
hard for me to believe how fast time went since his babyhood. The ceremony also
took place in the St. Mary Magdalen Chapel, with Louis the Best Man. Their very
grand reception was at the Hilton Hotel in Ventura, where I had a chance to get
acquainted with Tessie's lovely family.
In the summer of 1986 Louis decided to take a break from
work and studies, and left for Europe for a few months tour. His plan was to
visit several countries, but naturally his main goal was to go into Hungary to
see Mami again and meet the rest of my family and friends there. He took this
very seriously, and before he left, he attended some Hungarian classes at UCLA
to perfect his knowledge of the long forgotten language. His trip was very
successful and he came home with suitcases of presents and memories.
Louis with Mami and Editke in Sopron, Fall 1986.
In August of the same year Judy and Mike's second
daughter, Kelly was born; and in the following Spring Len and I got into our
car and headed for Texas. We chose the southern route thru New Mexico, where we
visited the magnificent and huge Carlsbad tavern. At Judy's home we had a great
time with the kids, the baby was adorable and Maureen was a very bright little
girl. After a few days of enjoying the happy family, we started our trip back
to home. This time we took the northern route and took a side trip to the Grand
Canyon in Arizona. Unfortunately, it was way too windy to take a flight over
the Canyon.
While I was going to work every day, Len became really
restless. I knew he missed his friends at work and I encouraged him to visit
during lunch hours, also, to look up his old neighbors. He was not very handy
at all with housework, but liked to putter around the house. On weekends we
went off for short trips on the Central Coast, or up to the surrounding
mountains. I do not remember exactly which one of us had the idea to buy a lot to
build a vacation home on, but we agreed on it and Len got very busy designing
the house while contacting real estate agents. The price of the bare-land was
already very high in California, and we went farther and farther up north to
find something more reasonable on a desired location. After much looking we
found and bought our building lot, 12 miles west of Paso Robles, up in the
mountains. The road was very narrow and curvy with almond groves on the
hillsides, but there was a retirement development, Heritage Ranch on the shore
of the beautiful Lake Nacimiento. While making up the drawings, Len and I had
lots of discussions, and sometimes arguments about the interior of the house;
frequently we were up until midnight working on the room designs He even built
a small cardboard scale model to make our planning easier.
The drawings had to be turned into blueprints and we
found a part-time draftsman up in the Ranch, who produced the required plans to
attain the building permit.With the permit in our hands we were very lucky to
find and hire a young, but very capable contractor who took on the job. From
there every Friday after work we drove up to the Ranch, about 260 miles from
Camarillo, to watch the building progress and to communicate with the
contractor. After a very tiring weekend Len made the suggestion that we should
move up there permanently and enjoy our years together while we were still able
to do so. That if we could sell the duplex we would be able to pay off the
building cost; and we would live comfortably on his retirement pension not
having any mortgage to pay. This made lots of sense to me, so I agreed. By the
end of April the outside of the house was almost completed and we had to choose
the color-schemes for the interior, the light fixtures and the floor coverings,
it was lots of fun.
Len is standing on our lot where they would build our
"Vacation Home"; the house is progressing, but our mailbox is still
missing. Heritage Ranch, Paso Robles, April 1987.
We put the duplex on he market and in few weeks it was
sold with a modest financial gain for us. I also presented my two-weeks notice
and left my job on May 15, after working 15 years for the Navy. In a week we
were all packed up in boxes and rented a moving truck that Louis volunteered to
drive to Paso Robles. We kept very little of our furniture and were planning to
buy new ones for our new home. We organized a patio sale, but only a few pieces
of the furniture were sold and we ended up giving the items to Goodwill. George
and Tessie came along also to help with the moving. We rented out a furnished
bachelor apartment in Paso Robles until our house up in the Ranch was
completed; Louis and George loaded all our boxes into a rented storage room.
On the 4th of July weekend Louis came up to Paso, and we
moved our belongings from the storage place into the new house. Without having
any furniture but the kitchen table and chairs, we had to sleep on the floor
for a few days until the new furniture we had bought was delivered from the
local store. Len and I were truly enjoying living up there, but the summer
months were very hot, and we spent considerable time on the lake and in the
pool at our Clubhouse. We also bought a small second-hand motorboat, and George
and Tessie came up to the Lake to have some fun with us. Because now we were
only a few hours driving distance from each other, we invited Marika and Les
for a visit, and it was not surprising that they just loved our new home. In
September Tom, my stepson was staying with us for two weeks, recovering from a
very bad shooting accident. By then a new lawn was put in, flower beds were
created and Len and I planted 16 different species of young trees up on our
hillside behind the house.
Visitors welcome, and with Tom at Lake Nacimiento,
Heritage Ranch, Summer of 1987.
Louis was telling me that the political situation in
Hungary had eased up a bit, however it was still Russian occupied. It was said
that Hungary was the most westernized country behind the Iron Curtain. As long
as a person kept his mouth shut and danced to the music of the communist
government, nobody was getting arrested anymore. With this encouraging news I
decided to apply for passports and entry visas for Len and myself, still not
quite sure if they would permit me to visit.
With some good fortune our papers came through without
any delays or problems, and a few years later my political status was
officially changed.
Above is a copy of the official document I received from
the new Hungarian Government in 1991. It nullifies the charges which were made
against me in 1952. The judge's name has been removed in the interests of
privacy.
- Home Page
- My Parents and our Family
- The Lean Years after World
War II
- The Turning Point and Escape
- My new Family in a new
Country
- Our New Life
- Visits and Achievements
- My Second
Marriage
- Travels and Changes
- The Golden Years
- Reflections
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