Glad Holidays to all!
2020 has been a troublesome 12 months for all of us. All of us need you to know that we admire you coming in and seeing every one in all us and permitting us to serve you throughout this tough time.
It’s good to know that when the going will get robust for everybody, we will come collectively as a neighborhood and nonetheless have the chance to serve each other and get by conditions such because the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s the one factor that stands out about Tallahassee – the sense of neighborhood.
For these of you who may be questioning who I’m, I’m Dwayne. In case you’ve been to Tallahassee Nurseries over the previous years, we’ve most likely met at one time or one other whereas I test you out together with your crops and ship you in your technique to beautify your houses and neighborhood, making buddies alongside the best way. By means of the years I’ve labored right here on the nursery, I’ve discovered the significance of giving again and serving to others. It’s due to this lesson that I’ve a narrative I’d like to share with you.
Neighborhood
The pandemic has been very exhausting on all of us. Admittedly, there are occasions I simply felt like giving up and pretending that the world didn’t exist anymore. What retains me going is the chance to go to work every day and with the ability to watch the Pleasure on somebody’s face after they discover the fitting plant for his or her house or discover the right reward for somebody particular. It has grow to be part of me. The neighborhood and the individuals have grow to be part of me; and one way or the other that makes all of it worthwhile for me. So like lots of you, as you drudge ahead, bear in mind to remind your self that issues received’t all the time be this manner. Individuals can thrive out of conditions comparable to this. As a result of once we are at our lowest, that’s when the neighborhood turns into its strongest.
As the vacations method after a troublesome 12 months, if you happen to’re something like me, you’re in want of a really feel good story. I’ve acquired one which I might like to share with all of you. A narrative of affection. A narrative of Hope. A narrative of Triumph.
A Really feel Good Story
For these of you who haven’t had the chance to know me extra on a private degree, one of many issues that I like to do as a interest is to gather and restore classic images, Victrolas, document gamers, and so on.
A few 12 months in the past, I used to be out there for a victrola when I discovered one on the market domestically within the Killearn Estates space. I referred to as about it and ended up buying it from a person by the title of Sam Kovacs. He was a pleasant gentleman and he informed me that he hated to promote it however wanted to downsize as a result of he was getting married once more (which I assumed was very candy for a person who was virtually 80 on the time). What struck me a lot about this machine was that it was in such nice situation – virtually prefer it hadn’t been performed fairly often. He then informed me that it had been in his household for 70 years, and he had by no means heard it play as a result of he and his household by no means had a 78 RPM document.
Properly evidently, I gladly bought it, and on the best way house I couldn’t recover from the truth that he had by no means had the chance to listen to this factor play. After getting it house, setting it up and placing the primary 78 RPM document on it., as I used to be having fun with it I felt a way of loss realizing that Sam had by no means had the chance to listen to it for himself. Over the following few weeks, I might come to get a really huge historical past lesson on simply how necessary this victrola would develop into.
The Historical past
You see, Sam Kovacs, who now lives in Tallahassee, was initially from Hungary. His household escaped shelling fight through the Siege of Budapest on the tail finish of World Conflict II and fled to Austria the place they befriended individuals by the final title of Haas. These individuals would ceaselessly change his and his household’s lives. It was the tail finish of the 1940s and the Kovacs household had hoped to finally get to the USA. It was this household who they bumped into in Austria who had a member of the family (additionally Hungarian) who lived in San Diego,California by the title of Paula Haas. It was Paula who agreed to sponsor the Kovacs household to return to the USA to stick with her to assist them get a brand new begin and escape the destruction of Budapest.
The Kovacs arrived in the USA round 1950 and Aunt Paula, as they got here to name her, took them into her house. she gave them the possibility they wanted in an effort to higher their lives and grow to be profitable in a brand new nation that they didn’t know. Inside a couple of years, Sam’s father turned the profitable proprietor of an upholstery enterprise which he ran till he died a few years later. In truth Sam’s brother ran the household enterprise after that till 2010 when he retired. However one of many issues that the Kovacs inherited from Aunt Paula, upon her passing a couple of years after their arrival, was a victrola. A 1922 Victor IX (Victor 9) to be precise. She hadn’t performed it for a few years earlier than the Kovacs arrived in the USA, as I might come to grasp. It could be this victrola that I might come to buy a few years later. The importance in all of it was the truth that Sam took that victrola wherever he moved, all the time rigorously packing it and displaying it in his house wherever which will have been through the years, by his Air Power years and all through the USA. All of the whereas understanding its significance, however by no means listening to it play.
Sam’s now new spouse, Melanie Rucker, spoke with Sam and he or she informed me this entire story herself. I’ve to confess, the entire story choked me up a bit. It turned necessary for me to do no matter was going to be mandatory to ensure Sam was given the chance to listen to his Aunt Paula’s victrola play, even when it didn’t sit in his lounge anymore.
However Then The Actuality Hit Me
Aunt Paula and her victrola symbolize a lot extra. It symbolizes the sort of particular person that every one in all us strives to be. Good-natured individuals who assist others. Individuals who consider within the plight of mankind. Individuals who know that tomorrow brings a greater day.
You understand, Aunt Paula was the unique proprietor of this victrola and when she purchased it new in 1922 from Thearle Music Firm in San Diego, California guess what? She was dwelling by the tip of a pandemic. Greater than that, many individuals of the neighborhood again then had been in masks additionally, as we are actually. It’ll all get higher. I do know it should.
A Glad Ending 
And so, as I wrap up this word, I wished to share that the victrola was totally restored. Will probably be displayed and can be taking part in stunning music at Tallahassee Nurseries in our Cottage Present Store by the month of December. My hope is that when individuals hear the music after studying this story, that they perceive the importance of who Aunt Paula was and the highly effective significance in it for all of us.
