Uploaded on: 06/24/2007
Hungarian immigrant valued St. Andrew parish name and education
By Mary Shearon
Special to The Catholic Spirit
Peter Komives’ first Communion day, 1924. |
My father’s parents were both born in Fertoszentmiklos, Hungary, in the 1800s.
My grandfather came to the United States with the idea of earning a fortune and then going back to Hungary to lead a life of leisure. When it became apparent that earning a fortune wasn’t so easy, he arranged for a bride, Agnes, to come from Hungary. They were married in Joliet, Ill., and lived there until Dad [Peter Komives] was born.
Shortly afterward, the Komives family moved to St. Paul.
Dad was bright and eager to learn. Hungarian was his language. It was the only language he spoke before going to school. Of course, there was no program, per se, for English-language learners at that time. The solution for Dad was to spend two years in first grade. His entire formal education was at St. Andrew. Dad always spoke highly of his education at St. Andrews.
At age 15, when he graduated, he was offered a scholarship at De La Salle High School. They thought he would be a good football player. Dad didn’t go, however, because his father said they couldn’t afford the streetcar fare to send him to school in Minneapolis. So, at that young age, he entered the adult world.
He went to the Como Shops and got a job with the Northern Pacific Railroad. The man who hired him said he was too young for the job, but he looked older, so he could have it. He retired from the railroad at the age of 62.
Some time in his 60s, Dad decided he wanted to be a high school graduate, so he went to get a GED. The instructors in the GED program encouraged him to study with them, but he said he would prepare on his own. Each week, he and Mom studied for one of the tests. Dad would go in and take that test, pass it with flying colors, and then prepare for the next one.
When we graduated from high school, Mom and Dad had a party. So, when Dad got his GED, we had a party, too.
Except for baptism and the sacrament of the sick, Dad received his sacraments at St. Andrew — Eucharist, penance, confirmation and marriage. He and my mother, who did not become a Catholic until after they were married, were wed in the rectory of St. Andrew in 1935. That was the tradition for mixed marriages.
When Dad was born, he was given the name Peter Komives. He had no middle name. For confirmation, he decided to take the name Andrew, because of the name of his church. After that, Andrew was not only his confirmation name, but his middle name also.
Dad always liked the architecture of St. Andrew. The current building had been constructed when he was a student there. Dad’s job as a parishioner was to clean the stairway going to the choir loft. I thought of that as I went up to the choir loft when I attended the 100th anniversary of St. Andrew Church.
In Dad’s last years, after Mom had died, he moved back to St. Paul to live at a seniors’ residence. He loved living in the old neighborhood, where he was able to go to St. Andrew for Mass.
At that time, I was taking care of his financial affairs. Each month, as we did his bills, he asked me to make out his weekly checks and put them in the church envelopes, so they would be ready when he went to Mass. Once in a while, the priest at St. Andrew came to visit him at his home at Como by the Lake. The visits were special for Dad.
I believe that St. Andrew parish was not only a place to worship and learn for Dad, but a place for him to grow as a person, to find out who he was.
Mary Shearon lives in Eagan and attends St. John Neumann parish.