Ilona Irén Mária Török (Láng)
Our mother was born and christened Ilona Irén Mária Láng (Ica) in the Hungarian town of Szepesváralja on the 11th February 1916. The Versailles Treaty, at the close of the War, resulted in the annexation of this part of Hungary to the newly created country called Czechoslovakia; thus my mother’s family became refugees migrating to the northern Hungarian town of Miskolc.
Her father Ede Mihály Láng’s ancestors were known as Zipsers, originating some 300 years ago from Germany. Unfortunately, after the 2nd World War these people were forcibly relocated into Germany by the Allies and our efforts to make contact have so far failed. The town of her birth has been renamed to Spišské Podhradie and is part of the now Slovakia. Her mother was Irén Gizella Bucseg of Northern Hungarian ancestry. Ica had a younger sister Ibolya (Duci) Somogyvári (Láng). Duci had no children.
Ica completed her High School Teacher’s diploma specialising in Mathematics and Music. In the Autumn of 1940, 5th October she married Béla Török in Budapest at the famous Szent István (Stephen) Basilica. Their first son, László, was born on 16th September 1942., Béla on 6th October 1943 and András 27th June 1945.
On arrival in Australia, she worked in the kitchen of the two migrant camps for two years. When we moved to our home in Guildford, she worked in Sydney for for many years as a clerk in the warehouse of Walton Sears, a large department store and EMI Electronics, manufacturer of TVs, radios and vinyl records. She retired in the early 1970s.
After Ica’s retirement, our family purchased her a piano which gave her much joy in reviving her musical talents. Ica was the instigator of the decision to move to Burwood which, because of its central position in Western Sydney, helped our father to expand his accounting practice.
