John Boesze

BOESZE, JOHN - 26 July 1913 - 12 November 2013 - John Boesze was born in Hungary in 1913, in the city of Szombathely, that 2000 years earlier had been the Roman city of Savaria. In his childhood he would find Roman coins in the small river flowing through the town. He was the sixth of ten children and responsibility and hard work came early. His artistic talents were evident at an early age and when he was in his teens, a nationally recognized local artist took him under his tutelage. John worked in a variety of media: watercolor, oils, ceramics, and wood. But he also learned a trade - he was a Journeyman butcher and sausage maker - and was a graduate of the Town's business school. In 1945 he fled to Austria to escape the Russian occupation of Hungary. In Austria) as a refugee/displaced person, he worked as a field hand, a lumberjack, a jack-of-all trades just to survive. In his limited free time, he carved and painted whatever local customers wanted. He also worked as a stonemason carving tombstones; as a graphic artist designing placards; and in 1949 even started his own business making stuffed animals - Teddy Bears, elephants, rabbits, fox terriers - all in different sizes, but all out of real lamb pelts. These were sold throughout Austria. Since the international situation looked bleak and the indications were that the Soviet Union might overrun Western Europe, he decided to leave Austria. After a 2-year (!) process, he, with his wife and son, immigrated to the United States in November 1951 and settled in Chicago. There he began a new career as a designer and maker of stained glass windows. He worked for a number of well-known Chicago studios and in 1968 he opened his own studio - The Glass Art and Decorative Studio - in the Germantown section of Chicago. For thirty years he designed and made stained glass and faceted glass windows for churches, restaurants, and private homes. He was one of very few craftsmen who could repair 100- plus-year old stained glass church windows or Tiffany lamps. In 1998, at the age of 85, he finally sold his studio. He did not retire: he continued to paint and sculpt at home, finally finishing a 3-figure sculpture in 2002 that represented the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He had been planning to do that sculpture since that time but never got around to it. His wife, Margaret, died beginning of 2002 and the arduous work of creating this sculpture was therapy. A number of copies of this sculpture were cast at the Wagner Foundry in Chicago. On the occasion of the 50" anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution a copy of the sculpture was presented to the Mayor of Chicago and is displayed in the Chicago City Hall, one was presented to the Mayor of the City of Szombathely and is displayed in the City Hall, one is displayed in the St. Stephen King of Hungary Church in Chicago whose member he was from 1951 to 2012; and a number were presented to various American-Hungarian organizations to include the American Hungarian Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ. He had an excellent reputation among those in his field and occasionally would take in an apprentice. He was most proud of his highly talented student, Kathrin Schnabel, who later opened her own studio: her superb designs and renditions in glass and mosaic were masterpieces of form, function, color, light, and motion and he took great delight in seeing her achievements. A third stroke at the age of 98 put an end to his creative work and his independence. Since 1 June 2012 he resided at HeartFields of Bowie, MD. He suffered from dementia and believed he was back in Hungary and wondered why no one else spoke Hungarian. He was the oldest of the residents, mobile and healthy, but in the early hours of 12 November he quietly passed away in his sleep with a serene and content look on his face. He had a long, eventful, and productive life. He is mourned by his son, Laszlo Boesze, his daughter-in-law Birgid (Maryland); his grand- daughters Eva (Germany), Astrid (France), and IIdiko (California); his great-grandchildren Josephine, Quincy, and Nevan; his last surviving sibling, his younger sister Ilona (Hungary); and the children and grandchildren of his siblings (Hungary and Canada). He was an Eagle Scout in the pre-WW II Hungarian Boy Scouts and participated in the World Jamboree of 1933 in Hungary and was a life-long supporter of the Hungarian Boy Scout Troop in Chicago. As a veteran of the Royal Hungarian Army he was a member of the Chicago Chapter of the World Federation of Hungarian Veterans. From the time he arrived in the United States in 1951 he was a member of the congregation of St. Stephen King of Hungary Church in Chicago. He was invited to become a member of the Hungarian Association and, in recognition of his professional achievements, was inducted into the prestigious Arpad Academy of Arts and Sciences. His ashes will be deposited in the family crypt in Hungary during the Spring 2014; he will then finally have returned to his beloved Native Land.