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Kovacs, Kalman Attila


February 1st, 1943 – September 27th, 2011

Kalman was born February 1st, 1943 in Szeged, South-Eastern Hungary to parents Jozsef and Margit Kovacs, younger brother to Gabor. Kalman showed musical passion at an early age, and was accepted to study at the music conservatory college in Debrecen at the age of fourteen. A gifted trumpet and piano player, he began teaching at the age of nineteen, and later became the principal of the school in which he taught in Berettyoujfalu. By the age of twenty-five, Kalman had been granted the position of superintendent of all music schools in the province. Kalman’s beloved wife of 37 years, Judit, was raised in Budapest, Hungary and qualified as a dentist there in 1970. She accepted a position to practice dentistry in Eastern Hungary, in the community where Kalman taught. The two connected at a public lecture on music presented by Kalman. According to numerous sources, they were immediately enchanted with each other, just barely managing to disguise it within the formality of the circumstances. Judit cleverly asked Kalman a few leading music related questions, on which he was presumably happy to elaborate.

Following four years of courtship in Hungary, the young couple made the decision to leave Communist Hungary in search of a new life in the West. Remaining single in order to obtain tourist visas to leave Hungary, Judit finally received one to visit her brother in the U.S. and Kalman received one enabling him to go to Vienna on holiday. Without telling even their families about their plan, they left. They eventually met in Yugoslavia and drove to Vienna together, spending a month in Austria as tourists. When the month was up, they reported to the police seeking refugee status, and were promptly transported to a United Nations run refugee camp where Kalman spent ten days in custody being investigated by Austrian police. They were eventually approved as refugees and did find work in Austria, but in October 1974 they were gratefully accepted an offer to move to Edmonton. Kalman and Judit were married November 23, 1974, and arrived at the Edmonton International Airport on May 23, 1975.

Despite much support from new Canadian friends and the vibrant Hungarian community in Edmonton, both Kalman and Judit were met with great difficulty in practicing their professions. Judit became pregnant with their first child, Catherine, in 1976, and never returned to practicing dentistry. Gregory was born in 1978, Christina in 1981, and Anita in 1983. Kalman financially supported Judit and the four children by teaching music privately upwards of 40 hours a week for eleven years. During this time he also became an elder and music director at Strathcona Presbyterian Church, which he maintained with great love and devotion until Spring 2011.

In the mid-1980’s, Kalman studied for and took a series of examinations that enabled him to begin a career as a life insurance sales representative, continuing his involvement in teaching and the musical community as a passionate hobby. Within a decade, he became an independent broker and expanded his areas of expertise to include life insurance, mutual funds, investments, and personal wealth management. Despite global financial challenges, Kalman built a sustainable business founded on the same principles of integrity, honesty, and devotion that he taught music. He remained vigorously involved in his business until the moment when ill physical health prevented him from doing so.

 

We celebrate Kalman’s life, comforted by sweet memories of his kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness, scholarship, humour, storytelling, love of music, love of sweets, and devotion as a husband, father, friend and teacher, that continue to linger in our hearts. 

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