Kalman was born February 1st,
1943 in Szeged, South-Eastern Hungary to parents Jozsef and Margit Kovacs,
younger brother to Gabor. Kalman showed musical passion at an early
age, and was accepted to study at the music conservatory college in
Debrecen at the age of fourteen. A gifted trumpet and piano player,
he began teaching at the age of nineteen, and later became the principal
of the school in which he taught in Berettyoujfalu. By the age of twenty-five,
Kalman had been granted the position of superintendent of all music
schools in the province. Kalman’s beloved wife of 37 years, Judit,
was raised in Budapest, Hungary and qualified as a dentist there in
1970. She accepted a position to practice dentistry in Eastern Hungary,
in the community where Kalman taught. The two connected at a public
lecture on music presented by Kalman. According to numerous sources,
they were immediately enchanted with each other, just barely managing
to disguise it within the formality of the circumstances. Judit cleverly
asked Kalman a few leading music related questions, on which he was
presumably happy to elaborate.
Following four years of courtship
in Hungary, the young couple made the decision to leave Communist Hungary
in search of a new life in the West. Remaining single in order to obtain
tourist visas to leave Hungary, Judit finally received one to visit
her brother in the U.S. and Kalman received one enabling him to go to
Vienna on holiday. Without telling even their families about their plan,
they left. They eventually met in Yugoslavia and drove to Vienna together,
spending a month in Austria as tourists. When the month was up, they
reported to the police seeking refugee status, and were promptly transported
to a United Nations run refugee camp where Kalman spent ten days in
custody being investigated by Austrian police. They were eventually
approved as refugees and did find work in Austria, but in October 1974
they were gratefully accepted an offer to move to Edmonton. Kalman and
Judit were married November 23, 1974, and arrived at the Edmonton International
Airport on May 23, 1975.
Despite much support from new
Canadian friends and the vibrant Hungarian community in Edmonton, both
Kalman and Judit were met with great difficulty in practicing their
professions. Judit became pregnant with their first child, Catherine,
in 1976, and never returned to practicing dentistry. Gregory was born
in 1978, Christina in 1981, and Anita in 1983. Kalman financially supported
Judit and the four children by teaching music privately upwards of 40
hours a week for eleven years. During this time he also became an elder
and music director at Strathcona Presbyterian Church, which he maintained
with great love and devotion until Spring 2011.
In the mid-1980’s, Kalman
studied for and took a series of examinations that enabled him to begin
a career as a life insurance sales representative, continuing his involvement
in teaching and the musical community as a passionate hobby. Within
a decade, he became an independent broker and expanded his areas of
expertise to include life insurance, mutual funds, investments, and
personal wealth management. Despite global financial challenges, Kalman
built a sustainable business founded on the same principles of integrity,
honesty, and devotion that he taught music. He remained vigorously involved
in his business until the moment when ill physical health prevented
him from doing so.
We celebrate Kalman’s life,
comforted by sweet memories of his kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness,
scholarship, humour, storytelling, love of music, love of sweets, and
devotion as a husband, father, friend and teacher, that continue to
linger in our hearts.
