Obituary of Tibor "Ted" Csorba

Tibor Csorba, known to everyone as Ted, was born on February 19th, 1936 in Tura, Hungary. Ted left Hungary after the Hungarian revolution in 1957. The story he told was that due to the invasion of his country by the Russian military he decided to leave as it changed the face of the country and standard of living forever. He left his parents house during the night with a bag of food that his mother left for him as she was the only one that knew he was leaving. Ted, with a small group of others, made his way to the Austrian border where he give a boarder guard his watch and a small amount of money to let him pass into Austria. From Austria he traveled to Italy and then to England before his final destination, Canada. Ted worked in the mines in the Yukon around the Whitehorse area. He took out his Canadian citizenship papers at Elsa in the Yukon Territories in 1963. Ted left the Yukon with two other Hungarian friends Steve Timar and Frank Nagy for an unknown destination. They found out that the PGE Railway was looking for workers and they all ended up working for the railway at Mt. Lemory. Ted continued to work for the railway in and around the Chetwynd area until the early 80's. He then went to work at the IGA in the bakery for then owner Dean Westgate. Ted continued to work for the new owners Kim and Donna Stewart until his retirement, June 15th 2000. Ted talked a bit about his family back in Hungary but was afraid to go back as there was a good chance he would be arrested for leaving the country the way he did. This fear remained in effect until the end of the Cold War in 1989. By that time Ted said that it was so long since he had been to Hungary that he no longer had any desire to go back. He, for his own reasons, did not keep in touch with his family back in Hungary. Ted loved to watch all kinds of sports. His favourite team was the Toronto Maple Leafs. The player he disliked the most was Wayne Gretzky. Ted would quit watching various professional sports every so often due to some underdog team wining a game or a match that they should not have. He would say it was fixed. Ted passed away on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 in Vancouver, B.C. at the age of 72 years. A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 11:00 am at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. Fr. David John Officiated. Interment was held in the Tuscoola Mountain Cemetery. For friends so wishing, donations may be made in memory of Ted to the Pine Valley Seniors Association Assisted Living Housing Fund. Very Respectfully, Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium