Gyülekezetünk
fennállásának 80. évfordulóját ünnepelve
Hálaadó
Ünnepi Istentiszteletet tartottunk vendégeinkkel együtt
2006.
november 26-án.
Köszönet
mindazoknak, akik szolgáltak: Ft. Ludwig Kálmán püspök,
Ft. Szabó Sándor püspök,
Nt. Kacsó István esperes, Nt. dr. Bónis Béla, Nt.
Danyi István lkp., Nt.Nagy Bálint lkp., Nt. Novák
József
lkp., Nt. Papp Zsolt lkp., Nt.dr.Szabó Ildikó, Nt.Vadász-Hunter
János lkp., valamint Theodor Atya.
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"Mindeddig
megsegített minket az Úr" - I Sámuel 7:12
On
August 1, 2001 the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los
Angeles reached its seventy-fifth birthday. The following
historical compilation represents a reflection on the beginning,
growth and the events in the historical life of the First
Church. The material is organized around several themes
starting with the beginning, and concluding with our life
as it is today, and our hopes for the years ahead.
There
are a number people who contributed important information.
An invaluable historical resource was Margaret Saltzer,
our church`s former Chief Elder and Organist for many
years and the daughter of one of our beloved pastors
the late Reverend Antal Szabó. Margaret allowed me access
to Reverend Szabó`s papers and notebooks, and provided
a great deal of information regarding the history of
our congregation, as well as church life in Hungary and
in the US through the years. An amazing source of information
were the previous Anniversary yearbooks - from 1941 compiled
by the late Reverend Albert Hady, as well as 1951, 1956,
1961, and 1966 all compiled by Reverend Antal Szabó.
It is clear from these yearbooks that that both of these
pastors and the congregations from these early periods
made important and lasting contributions to the First
Church as well as to the Hungarian community in Los Angeles
and in the United States. I also drew on interesting
anecdotes told to me by Mrs. Albert Hady (a founding
and life-long congregation member, the first Choir Director,
and Reverend Hady`s wife) in the years before she passed
away, about the church`s life in the 1920`s, and later.
The
Consistory and substitute Consistory members during 2001
- Piroska Castillo, Ilona Garai, Dr. Carmen Hoft, Ferenc
Hudák, Ibolya Hudák, Eszter Hudák, Viktor Hudák, Helen
Stefl, Adél Tóth and Betty Warga - as well as friends
and members of the congregation of our Church, and our
pastor at the time, Dr. Béla Bónis understood the importance
of a historical record like this, and expressed their
support. Bill Terramorse provided a tremendous amount
of assistance with the overall layout and the digital
scanning of many old and fuzzy photographs. An Anniversary
Book celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the church was
printed in 2001 and contributing to the printing costs
were The Hungarian Reformed Federation, Piroska Castillo
and Bill Terramorse; Betty Warga contributed in memory
of her beloved husband George Warga; Betty Warga and
Pearl Kovách also contributed in loving memory of their
mother Julia Dudásh and their sister Julia Stewart.
Working
on the history of this church has been humbling, incredibly
inspiring and filled with trepidation. It has been humbling
to see the work of God in so many lives over the course
of more than seven-and-a-half decades. It has been incredibly
inspiring to see, with God’s grace and blessing, how
much a Pastor and a Congregation can accomplish together.
And it has been filled with trepidation because, no doubt,
contributions from many individuals were inadvertently
left out. This historical compilation is just a sampler
of the life of the First Church over the decades, a work-in-progress,
and not a complete account.
Tünde
Garai
Chief Elder
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