Coming to Canada
From a casual conversation about dogs comes a remarkable tale of fleeing oppression and starting anew
Afew years ago, I met a very interesting person, Mary Dudas from Strathroy, Ont. Our initial conversation was very casual, with our respective dogs being the main topic. As time went by, our conversations naturally expanded into other areas. One day, I asked Mary where she came from originally, and upon hearing her response, I asked if I could share her story with the readers of Our Canada magazine. Much to my delight and hopefully yours, she said yes.
Mary’s father, Frank Dudas, had been in the militia in Romania when communism was getting established and preparing to take over the country. Frank and his wife Zsuzanna eventually felt the need to escape from the resulting oppression, and so they went by foot over the Carpathian Mountains, arriving in Hungary in 1951, where Frank found work on various farms.
Mary was born in 1953 in Budapest and was not yet three years old when the Hungarian Revolution began, forcing the young family to flee. Mary recalls her father telling her to be quiet as he carried her on his back while crossing the border from Hungry into Austria,
where they found refuge in a Red Cross unit.
As part of its relief efforts, the Red Cross arranged to have the Dudas family and other refugees like them flown to Toronto, where they were housed in a big building that in hindsight reminded Mary of a huge auditorium. Her dad set out to find a job and found employment on a farm in Strathroy, which was owned by a Hungarian woman. Frank worked for her as a hired hand and, once established, he arranged to have his family join him there. He saved enough money so Mary could start her education in Strathroy. She was five years old by this time. Fortunately, there was a large Hungarian community in Strathroy at the time, which helped out the family in a number of ways, most notably helping Mary overcome the language barrier at a young age. By the time she was
13, Mary was bilingual and able to teach her parents sufficient English to take the Oath of Allegiance in Toronto. She has resided in Strathroy ever since.
Who could have known that from a casual conversation about one’s dogs that you could meet and get to know someone with such an incredible history.