KOVRIG, Frank Alex - October 30th 1929 - August 7th 2020 -
At the ripe old age of 90, Frank Kovrig passed away at the Toronto East General hospital on Friday, August 7, 2020 with his two daughters by his side.
Frank grew up in Raymond Alberta with his siblings Jolayne and Steve and Hungarian immigrant parents Joseph and Elizabeth, so he could polka with the best of them.
His family eventually moved to Brantford Ontario, and as Frank blossomed into a young man, he became a regular troublemaker at all the Hungarian dance halls.
In 1949, Frank met a beautiful young girl named Liz at a Valentine’s dance. She lived in Guelph, so Frank would travel there on weekends to be with her. During the weekdays he worked long, hard hours in the tobacco fields, but the photo he kept of Liz tucked away in his wallet gave him the motivation to keep going. Frank wrote Liz weekly love letters, signing them with the pet name she had given him: “Snooky.”
Frank married Liz as soon as she turned 18 (it seems too young these days, but it was the norm back then). They polka’d together for many years, but were never able to get pregnant. Fortunately, they had a good time trying. Eventually they decided to adopt and Frank wanted daughters. When he was 39 years old, Frank became a parent to his first daughter Becky, and then to Brenda at the age of 41 (it seemed too old back then, but it’s the norm these days). Frank taught his daughters how to polka so he could have two more dance partners at the Hungarian dance halls.
Frank worked in Human Resources for his whole career. He started work in Kitchener, then Brantford, and finally in Brampton Ontario, but it wasn’t just fun and games at the office.
Becky and Brenda met Dave and Stefan, who helped give Frank and Liz three grandchildren to dote on in their senior years – Nathan, Jessica, and Elsa.
Confined to a wheelchair for the last few years and in a lot of pain, Frank struggled. He couldn’t walk, and he could barely see or hear a damn thing, but the man never lost his sense of humour or his big, warm smile.
On September 1st, Frank would have celebrated 69 years of marriage with Liz. We can only hope that somewhere polka music is blasting and he’s giving dance lessons to anyone interested - while waiting, very patiently, for his sweetheart to join him in the big Hungarian dancehall on the other side.
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