POKOLY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-15 published
Laszlo (Leslie)
POKOLY
By James W.
FLANNERY
Thursday,
May 15, 2003 - Page A26
Husband, father, minister. Born April 29, 1908, in Kolozsvar,
Transylvania, Hungary. Died November 4, 2002, in Toronto, of
natural causes, aged 94.
For many years, Laszlo
POKOLY was a well-loved leader of the
Hungarian community of Toronto, particularly for his heroic service
to the thousands of refugees who came to Canada after the 1956
Hungarian Revolution. A minister of the United Church of Canada,
he was also instrumental in creating the Metropolitan Toronto
Interfaith Immigration Committee, an organization known for its
work in building bridges among the various ethnic peoples who
transformed the character of the city during this period. In
recognition of his tireless devotion to helping others, Leslie
POKOLY was made a member of the Order of Saint John.
The life of "Lacibaci," as his relatives called him, mirrored
in many ways the tumultuous and tragic events of the 20th century.
After he graduated from Debrecen University, one of the premier
Protestant academic institutions in Central Europe, he began
his professional career by serving as legal counsel for the Royal
Postal System of Hungary. With the outbreak of the Second World
War, Leslie
POKOLY was conscripted as an officer in the Hungarian
Army. A man who combined tremendous foresight with practical
ingenuity, in the closing days of the war he led his company
of soldiers and their families westward to surrender to the American
rather than the Russian Army. He and his family then followed
the precarious existence of refugees in Germany, but in 1948
his life took a cruel turn when his 34-year-old wife died suddenly
of an aneurysm, leaving two young daughters in his care.
In 1950, the
POKOLYs emigrated to Canada to begin a new life.
Scarcely knowing a word of English, Lacibaci at first found work
shovelling snow and as a house painter in Hamilton. Within six
months, however, he was enrolled as a minister in training at
United College, Winnipeg. Ordained to the ministry in 1954 he
served several Hungarian communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan
until, just prior to the '56 Revolution, he was called to Toronto.
As the pastor of the Hungarian congregation at the Church of
all Nations, his enlightened spirit reached out to embrace people
of all religious faiths.
Liberal as he was in the exercise of his beliefs, Lacibaci was
a man who lived according to a strict code of honour. By Hungarian
law he was required to bring up his daughters in the Catholic
faith of their mother. In Canada, even after he had become a
United Church minister, he continued to oversee the Catholic
instruction of his daughters. When Enik was about to be married
in the Catholic Church, Lacibaci became greatly annoyed because
the parish priest refused to allow him to play an official role
in the service. "If that is the case," said Lacibaci, "then
my daughter will be married by the Cardinal!" And so she was.
Laszlo POKOLY was a man of the cloth with his feet firmly planted
in the realities of the world. Clear in his principles, his strategies
and his allegiance to the many causes he espoused, his wry sense
of humour made him a delightful companion and eased the pressure
of many difficult situations.
For the last 10 years of his life, Lacibaci lived in a nursing
home, primarily because he wished to be close to his second wife,
Margit, who died of Alzheimer's Disease in 1998. Although he
suffered from a variety of afflictions, no one heard a word of
complaint. "All things considered, it could be worse," was his
mantra.
Devoted to his native Hungary, his adopted country Canada, his
church, his city and his family, now all of us are the worse
for his loss, but strengthened by the example of his dedicated
life.
James is son-in-law to Laszlo
POKOLY.
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