1938 ~ 2014
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the unexpected passing of Alex at the Selkirk Hospital. He will be greatly missed by his loving wife Monika and his best buddies Shadow and Gus. He is survived by his sons Tim of Vancouver, Sandor of Modesto, California, James (Michelle) of Lloydminster and their son Cody, and Frank (Teresa) also of Lloydminster. Special thoughts go out to his granddaughter Meagan, who was by his side on his last night and Jacinda, who was by his side through his last days.
He was predeceased by his first wife Maria Szabolcsi (nee Fulop).
Alex was born in Budapest, Hungary. He immigrated to Canada in April, 1957. He worked hard at many jobs to give his family a good life. He worked as a taxi driver, cleaner and at Federal Pioneer for a number of years. He then was employed by Wardrop Engineering and spent 25 years in their employ. During that time he did a lot of travelling and visited every Reserve in Northern Manitoba. If you asked him if he ever went to any reserve, he would tell you stories about it. His last job with Wardrop was to build an addition to the Pine Falls Paper Mill. They like him so much that when he took his retirement from Wardrop he spent the next years working as the Maintenance Engineer at Pine Falls until the Mill closed. He was liked by everyone that crossed his path.
His greatest enjoyments were his flowers. As soon as it was warm enough, he would surround our house with hanging baskets. He also loved his garden and every year looked for the hottest Hungarian peppers he could find. He took great delight in sharing his pool with his family and friends. He especially loved it when we had kids visiting. He walked his two buddies, Gus and Shadow, every morning when he was able to. He loved the weekends when people were out at the cottages in Belair Properties. He would stop and talk to anyone he met and sometimes we would have to go and look for him. He often stopped at this friend Albert’s place to have an espresso coffee made by Carmella.
In keeping with his wishes, cremation has taken place. A Celebration of his Life will be held sometime in early July.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks you to consider a donation to CancerCare Manitoba, 675 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0V9.
Offer Condolence for the family of Alex (Sandor) Jozef Szabolsci
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Edith Bourgeois
Dear Monica, Our condolences to you and the family. I will remember him with a flower in my garden this summer. He was one of my favorite customers when he would come to the Lodge for lunch. RIP, Edith and Pierre.
Victor Han
Dear Monika,
My name, Victor Han, may have come up in conversations with Alex.
I was the electrical engineer for KSH during the project of the TMP plant at Pine Falls.
Alex was the client’s electrical engineer during that time. As such we developed an excellent professional relationship and I dare say,
we became and remained friends as much as distance would allow. Some was with a smile and a bit of humour.
Alex and I and two of the plant electricians, travelled together twice to Florida to inspect the high voltage equipment made there by ABB.
While there we had an excellent technical relationship but also a good time. For instance, during a weekend, ABB who had enough of us and wanted to get on with the job,
encouraged us to take a weekend off and so we went to visit the Kennedy space center. Another “event” was visiting a crocodile farm where in addition to the nature visit we were treated to a meal of alligator tail.
Finally it was the telephone call Alex received from his wife. His first wife Maria I believe, with “Alex there is a bear in the backyard and he is trying to get in the house! What do I do.”
Alex for me is a figure of professional competence, moderated by common sense and a sense of humour. We had an excellent client-consultant relationship, and remained in touch, even as friends, afterwards.
As late as 2006 , while in Estonia on another project, I needed some technical information. I called Alex and he went out of his way to help me.
Memorable for me was the last day when I saw Alex. Actually that day I did not see much of him because he was sick with an influenza. It was after the project was finished. They had some trouble with the big motors, and I was part of a team of specialists invited by Tembec to help solve the problem. The day when we finished I wanted to go home. But the secretary told me that I am not going anywhere. “Go look at that TV in the conference room, she said”. It was Tuesday September 11, 2001, and they were showing the attack on the World Trade Center.
Please accept my sincere condoleances for your loss, and transmit them to the rest of the family.
Best regards
Victor Han, Eng
Ingenieur Sénior Électricité
Tel./Tél. : 514-393-8000 x 55297
Fax/Téléc. : 514-334-1446
email : victor.han@snclavalin.com
SNC-Lavalin Inc. – T&D
1801 McGill College Avenue 8th Floor
Montreal | Québec | Canada | H3A 2N4