Gaston Gaal

Gaston Gaal was born March 17, 1931 in Balatonboglar, Hungary, and was the oldest of three children to be born to Oliver and Esther Gaal. He spent the first 25 years of his life in his beloved Hungary, on the family estate where he developed his love for soccer and people. His grandfather and namesake, Gazston Gaal, was an outspoken opponent of Communism, founded the Smallholder’s Party, and was the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary from 1921-1922. His father, Oliver, was an influential landowner and a politician. Gaston was educated at a Jesuit boarding school in Pecs, Hungary. At the age of eighteen he was drafted into the socialist Hungarian Army and placed into a work camp created for the sons of the political adversaries of the Communist Regime. Two years later, he was discharged from the Army, prohibited from holding jobs other than as manual laborer, and banned from any higher education. These restrictions were a persecution due to him because of his family’s anti-Communist views and his heritage as his grandfather’s namesake. In 1956, the Hungarian Revolution was overthrown by Russian tanks. He and his younger sister, Maria, escaped Communist terrorism and injustice, and settled as refugees in New York City. In 1957, he was offered a job in the oilfields of Midland, Texas, where he worked for several years. After teaching himself English, he was offered a sales position with Wyandott Chemical in 1964. While working in Houston, he met the woman he would love the rest of his life, Warrie Cotton. They were married in 1968 and gave birth to two sons: George (1969) and Andrew (1974). In 1976 he and Warrie founded Detergent Services, Inc., the company which he and his two sons have run for the past 20 years. He coached both his son’s soccer teams and touched the lives of many young men throughout the years. He was a loving father who was there for his boys in everything they did. He was blessed with nine grandchildren whom he dearly loved and who adored and loved him. He was a man of great integrity who gave respect to everyone he met. The family helped found St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in the early 1980’s where he remained and attended Daily Mass until his last day on this earth.