and George Bajor (January 1, 1933 – September 13, 2018)
Katalin Eva Schaffer Bajor (Kati, Kathy) was born in Budapest, Hungary to Jewish father Beno Schaffer and mother Terez Hohenberg Schaffer. Her mother died of pneumonia when Kathy was 4 years old, and in short time her father was taken away to a Nazi concentration camp and was never heard from again. Kathy and her sister went to live with their mother’s sister whose own husband and 16 year old son were also victims of the Holocaust.
George Bajor was also born in Budapest to Jewish parents, Elisabeth Sandicz Bajor and Erno Bajor. Though he did not lose a parent to death by a single violent act of the Holocaust, the family suffered through harrowing and life-altering times. Once, when Erno and Elisabeth were out for the evening, an air-raid siren sounded. Instead of running with the rest of the crowd toward the air-raid shelter, Erno ran in the other direction toward home to retrieve George who was about 13 years old. Erno’s actions were interpreted to be those of a spy, and the next day he was taken prisoner. Fortunately, because a concentration camp official knew him, he was released. Later, however, he was arrested again and sent to the Austria-Hungary border to shovel snow. He and a couple of other prisoners escaped to a farm, taking shelter in a basement. The next morning they realized the Russian army had arrived. Because he had been imprisoned in a Russian prison for four years during World War I, he had learned enough Russian to speak to the soldiers. Once again he was released, but walked two hundred miles home, arriving barely alive. The trauma of these events led his wife Elisabeth to go blind. A disfiguring and unsuccessful surgery was performed. When her eyesight eventually returned, it was determined she had MS which eventually caused her death. George, as a young boy, wearing the yellow identifying star of “JEW”, suffered the trauma of all these events.
As a young woman Kathy attended Donat Banki Technical College in Budapest where she earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1958. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Budapest in 1969. Her career was spent working as a Mechanical Design Engineer (heating and air conditioning) in Budapest and various companies in Champaign, IL, Palm Bay and Melbourne, FL.
George earned several degrees, culminating with a PhD in Physics, earned at the Leningrad Electrotechinal Institute (now St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University), speaking, reading and writing in the Russian language. On the day he successfully defended his dissertation, he phoned his father in Budapest and learned that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. George was a professor at the Technical University of Budapest and at the University of Chicago at Champaign-Urbana. He spent the bulk of his career as a scientist with the Harris Corporation, where he worked with semi-conductors and was awarded 11 patents.
Kathy and George married September 16, 1969. Several years later George was granted a teaching position at the University of Illinois, Champaign—Urbana. They came to the US with two suitcases. Finding the freedom of living in the US to be something they desired over the oppression of their homeland, they made the decision to remain illegally in the US when George’s work visa expired. Because it had been required that he be a member of the Communist Party for his work at the Technical University of Budapest, it took many years for him to attain American citizenship. One particular person at the Miami Citizenship and Immigration Office believed George to be a spy and repeatedly thwarted his efforts to become a citizen. George recalled sitting in a balcony, watching Kathy being sworn in as a citizen while he had been denied such. It took him 18 years, but with persistence he, too, became a US citizen.
They enjoyed many years in Florida before moving to Springmoor Retirement Community in July 2006.
While Kathy and George lived in Budapest their opportunity for travel was severely limited due to governmental restrictions. However, they began traveling in earnest once they moved to the US. They traveled worldwide, making at least one or two major trips every year for many, many years. Photography was a passion for Kathy, and these trips afforded endless opportunity for capturing the beauty of various cultures. While Kathy took still photos, George took videos. Upon return from each trip Kathy spent months developing beautiful DVD presentations complete with music and narration. These were shared with enthusiastic audiences at Springmoor as well as with family and other friends.
George was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in the fall of 2017. Kathy was diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer in February of this year. Though her physical decline was steady, her mind stayed sharp and her will strong. She faced her death with courage and peace. Her biggest regret was that she could no longer care for George. George deeply mourned Kathy’s death, and was inconsolable. His death came as a relief to his mind and his body.
Kathy is survived by a sister and brother-in-law Zsuzsanna and Balintine Petro of Budapest. George has no surviving family. They were the treasured friends of and to many long-time Hungarian friends including friends still in Hungary and Dr. Denes Marton of San Antonia, TX, Dr. John Cillag of Berkley CA as well as Mary and Hugh Nicolay of Melbourne Village, FL, Carol Klein of Asheville, Carolyn (Candy) Hicks of Foxfire Village, NC, Marivic Gayden of Raleigh, Chaplain Phyllis Mayo and Social Workers Steve Mistretta and Kelli Sullivan of Springmoor Retirement Community, Raleigh, and other staff members and residents in the Springmoor community.
Kathy and George have been most grateful for the compassionate and skillful care of Cara Chiavola, their nurse from Transitions Life Care (hospice) of Raleigh. They have appreciated, in addition, all the care given them by the staff of Stewart Health Center as well as the Right at Home agency.
Memorial gifts may be made to: the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenburg Pl., SW, Washington, DC 20024; or to Transitions Life Care (hospice) , 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC 27607.
Arrangements with Mitchell Funeral Home in Raleigh, NC.
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