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Early Life
My Gradfather was born in Budapest Hungary in 1925. -
Family
He had one sibling, an older sister, a mother, and a father. -
Early Childhood
He spent most of his childhood living on a lake with his family in Hungary.
Image: Lake Balaton in Hungary -
Hobbies
He had many hobbies which he loved, one of them being skiing.By around 19 years of age he became a national and Olympic level skiier. -
Skiing
In 1943, he left Hungary to compete in a ski event in Switzerland. He was denied reentry into Hungary because Hungary had become communist. This was the last time he saw his father. -
Communism
Hungary became communist in 1919 because of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Hungary only gained independece in the late 1980s -
New Life
After he left Hungary, he met up with his Swiss friend and both decided to travel to South Africa because they both could not re-enter Hungary. -
Friends
While my Grandfather was in South Africa, he met a family who he became friendly with. He then lived with them for a while in South Africa. -
New Family
While he was living in South Africa, he met his future wife during a trip to the capital, Cape Town. -
His Father
He never saw his Father again as he passed away in 1960 and my grandfather could not re-enter Hungary -
Engineer
Later, he became an engineer and worked for a while in cape town, South Africa. This was his main job and source of income and he would later use his engineering knowledge to start up his own company. -
Company
After becoming an engineer, he started his own elevator company which mainly operated in Italy. He made a good living off of his company and later retierd. -
New Hobbies
After retiring he picked up a new hobby which was sailing. He was very fond of racing sailboats around Italy. -
Sailing
Along with racing sailboats, he started to construct his own sailboats by hand. He would buy the hull of an old boat and restore it and redesign the rest using his engineering abilities. The largest sailboat he constructed was 43 feet long. -
Family Traditions
He would pass down his hobbies of skiing and boating to his three children and they would regularly ski and boat together as a family. The French Alps were one of his favorite skiing locations that he and his family would go to. -
Hungary
He would later return to Hungary to see some of his family and it was the first time he returned to Hungary since he left to go ski. -
Travel
During his older ages, he found a new love for traveling the world. One of his favorite locations to travel to was Italy. Him and his family would spend time in houses right on the rivers for in the city. -
From Start to Finish
He passed away in 2012 at the old age of 87. He lived a long and happy life fueled by his love for his hobbies and the love he had for his family. -
Full Circle
He was then cremated and his ashes released into the river that flows by his house in South Africa. It was only fitting because of his love for the outdoors.
