He was predeceased by his sisters Sofia and Julia, and his brother Gabor in Teglas, Hungary and his wife Elizabeth (married 48 years).
Joseph immigrated to Canada in 1956, one of thousands of refugees, striving for a better life. Dad was a hard worker; he was very proud to claim that he never received a single day of unemployment insurance and would take on any work just to have a paycheque. At the beginning, he had several odd jobs as a farm hand, wine making in a factory and eventually got work as a machinist, a trade that he learned in Hungary. He worked at Massey Ferguson for almost 25 years before it shut down and then continued to work as a machinist at White Farm and Laddish. After some time, he developed hip problems and had both hips replaced at the age of 60, but that didn’t stop him as he continued for a while doing light duty work until an early retirement.
Joseph was an active member and trustee at the Brantford Hungarian Presbyterian Church and was passionately involved with the Brantford Hungarian Hall where he also volunteered at the International Village Festival for many years. He was also a proud blood donor and would say he had donated twice the amount of his body’s blood.
Dad enjoyed puttering around and did not easily part with anything before he tried to fix it. He was also very proud of his homemade beer and wine which he was still making at 88. Dad also became a very good cook which he learned from Elizabeth. One of his treasured pastimes was baking an endless supply of muffins for his grandchildren.
He loved music and his favourite instrument was the accordion which he did not have the opportunity to learn to play growing up. Instead, he lived his dream through his son hearing him perform his beloved traditional Hungarian music.
He was a very loving and generous man and will be sadly missed by his son Joe (Szilvia) and his children with Jayne, Leah, Gabriel and Ava.
"Egyél, Igyál, Ne Búsuly"
(Eat, Drink, Don’t Be Sad)
In accordance with his wishes, cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Life will take place Wednesday, July 31st, 2pm – 5pm at the Brantford Hungarian Canadian Club, 104 Albion St. Brantford ON. Remarks at 3pm.
As expressions of sympathy, the family would like to encourage blood donations or donate to their preferred charity
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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