(February 20, 1934 – July 3, 2021)
Sandor Alex Boldizsar, Sr. was born February 20, 1934, in Udvard, Hungary, one of eight children of Ethel Kovacs and Bela Boldizsar. He eventually made his way to Budapest to apprentice in a factory and at 22 years old, fought valiantly in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution where he was gravely wounded. After rehabilitating from his injuries, he fled with friends to Austria to seek asylum, sleeping by day in barns along the way thanks to the kindness of strangers, and running at night to seek freedom.

After rehabilitating in refugee facilities, he was on the first plane out of the country and on his way to the US, landing at Ellis Island. When given the choice to live in Ohio or “Washington”, he naturally chose our nations’ capitol city as his destination, only to fly to Seattle, Washington, where he was welcomed by his sponsors, Otto and Reno Fritschy, their four children, and the Catholic community at Holy Family parish.

The Fritschy’s helped him with language classes and taught him to ride the bus to his first job as a bus boy in the Bon Marche downtown dining room. They had a birthday party for him, his first ever, and he always appreciated the numerous acts of kindness his adoptive family bestowed on him.

He married Seattle-native and his partner in life, Christine Tingstad in 1964, having three children, Shannon, Shelly and Sandor Alex Jr. and five grandchildren. Sandor and Christine were true partners in raising and providing for their family and always found time for each other. Sandor also had many nieces and nephews in Hungary and Slovakia, as well as locally in the US, and he enjoyed visiting with his extended family and made many trips to his homeland.

Sandor became a US citizen in 1976 and was a proud Hungarian American. He shared his love of family, food and his homeland with many lifelong friends in the Hungarian American Assoc. and Seattle Pecs Sister City Assoc.

He worked at Lockheed Shipbuilding and Boeing and was active in St. Louise Catholic Church. His strong faith in Catholicism was one he cherished daily, and it was the foundation on which his family was built. He and Christine were also active in their small Christian community group, making lifelong friends. His deep faith was most evident at the end of his life when without struggle he willingly passed to heaven to join his mother who he lost at a young age, his father, and many siblings.

For Sandor, food was love. Food was life. And food was meant to be shared. And share he did. He was renowned for his Hungarian dishes, bringing them to every function, event, picnic and meal that he was invited to. Nobody ever went hungry when he was around.

The kindness of others was also a theme that ran throughout his life, and he always worked to pay it forward by bestowing random acts of kindness on others. Words that others used to describe Sandor — Thoughtful. Sweet. Kind. Generous. Loving. Caring. Tender. Sensitive. Big-hearted. Warm. Happy. Patient. Proud. Compassionate. Fulfilled. Honorable. With a twinkle in his blue eyes and a zest for life that was incomparable.