Wordless Wednesday - South American Train/My Engineer, Poppy.

 

This is one of my favorites of my Poppy. 

He married my grandma after the death of my grandpa Art Jonsson. The nurse who cared for Art during his brain tumor cared for Poppy's wife at the same time in the, who was also dying from cancer. The nurse later introduced the two widows. They married in the 1960's. They were wonderful grandparents, who we referred to as "Nanny & Poppy"

  Although I have no blood relation to my Poppy, Imre Rokay, I have a deep interest in his history. His life is remarkable, and surrounded in a lot of mystery. He was raised in a military family in Hungary. Hungary was forced into WWII by it's dependence on Germany before the war. Imre's father was a Colonel in the Hungarian/Austrian army. After the war, like many people at that time, his family applied for citizenship to anywhere that would take them. Chile accepted them. They fled to Switzerland and then by boat to Brazil, and made their way to Chile. 

This photo was taken in South America, years after emigration, where my Poppy was an engineer.

He saw and experienced a lot of horrible things in his life. A lot he never wanted to talk about. But despite it all, he was an incredibly gentle man with a soft spot for his grand daughters. I feel blessed to have been his "Little Dudu" (insert Hungarian accent....)   :)