IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Mary
Kanyuch
May 19, 1919 – December 9, 2018
Obituary
Mary Kanyuch, 99, residing at Frey Village Nursing Facility, Middletown, Pennsylvania, passed away on December 9, 2018. She formally lived at The Manor at Oakridge, Harrisburg, in Hummelstown, PA., Burnsville, MN. and Clark, PA.
Born on May 19, 1919 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, she was the daughter of Alexander Guzikovsky and Bertha Komoly Guzikovska. Maria Johanna Guzikovska, as she was named at birth, was nicknamed Mitizi by her family and friends. She grew up speaking German, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak fluently and attended a Hungarian Lutheran Primary and Secondary schools.
When an adolescent, Mary traveled extensively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, Monaco and Egypt with her two older sisters and younger brother. She enjoyed tennis with her close friend, Magda Cohen.
After graduating from gymnasium (secondary school), Mary attended Comenius University (Komensky University), School of Medicine, in Bratislava. During a gathering of university students listening to the radio to German Chancellor Hitler on September 26, 1938, she met her future husband, Rev. John Kanyuch, an International Fellowship student, as she translated the speech from German to Slovak for him. They married on August 5, 1939 and in September, they left her country for Budapest and finally Genoa, Italy. There she waited for a year as her husband returned to the States to find a church ministry.
While in Genoa, Mary had a visit from the SS asking for identification papers. Leaving her boarding house, she went to the American Consul to obtained papers while she temporarily resided at the home of the Consul. Returning to her rental, she provided her papers to the revisiting SS who walked away empty-handed. On April 15, 1940, Mary was able to book passage on the S.S. Manhattan sailing from Naples, Italy to New York where her husband was waiting.
Arriving in the US, Mary became a pastor's wife for the next 56 years, as her husband served churches in Hazleton, PA, Minneapolis MN, and Hermitage, PA. She supported him through two building programs, one in Minneapolis and the last being the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Morefield Rd.
Mary taught Sunday School at the churches they served and was always part of the women's organizations, Ladies Alter Guild and Dorcus Circle. Mary was known for her cooking and baking especially German, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak dishes. Her daughters and grandchildren could not wait for homemade sauerbraten, perogi, kolachi and kiffles. Mary was able to reunite after almost 40 years with her brother and oldest sister in Bratislava in 1978 when she and her husband visited. They also brought her brother and sister-in-law to their home in Clark for a month's visit two years after that. She also fondly looked back at trips to Hawaii and Greece with her husband and trips to Czechoslovakia and Europe with her eldest daughter.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Rev. John Kanyuch, sisters, Bertha and Anna Guzikovska and brother, Alexander Guzikovsky. Surviving are daughters, Lydia Suzanne Strand, Burnsville, MN. and M. Marlene Kanuck, Hershey; grandchildren, George R. Knox, North Branch, MN., Jennifer L. Lang, Los Angeles, Stephanie Banjak, Farrell, Derek J. Knox, Burnsville, Marc A. Banjak, Raleigh, NC.; and five great grandchildren; one niece and three nephews.
A viewing starting at 10 a.m. will be followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 3325 Morefield Rd, Hermitage, PA. Rev. Gary Nelson, pastor at Holy Trinity, and Rev. Wayne Muthler, chaplain at Frey Village, Middletown, PA. officiating.
Interment will be at the Holy Trinity Cemetery following the service. The family asks in lieu of flowers that donations be made to Holy Trinity (address above) in Mary's memory.
Born on May 19, 1919 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, she was the daughter of Alexander Guzikovsky and Bertha Komoly Guzikovska. Maria Johanna Guzikovska, as she was named at birth, was nicknamed Mitizi by her family and friends. She grew up speaking German, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak fluently and attended a Hungarian Lutheran Primary and Secondary schools.
When an adolescent, Mary traveled extensively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, Monaco and Egypt with her two older sisters and younger brother. She enjoyed tennis with her close friend, Magda Cohen.
After graduating from gymnasium (secondary school), Mary attended Comenius University (Komensky University), School of Medicine, in Bratislava. During a gathering of university students listening to the radio to German Chancellor Hitler on September 26, 1938, she met her future husband, Rev. John Kanyuch, an International Fellowship student, as she translated the speech from German to Slovak for him. They married on August 5, 1939 and in September, they left her country for Budapest and finally Genoa, Italy. There she waited for a year as her husband returned to the States to find a church ministry.
While in Genoa, Mary had a visit from the SS asking for identification papers. Leaving her boarding house, she went to the American Consul to obtained papers while she temporarily resided at the home of the Consul. Returning to her rental, she provided her papers to the revisiting SS who walked away empty-handed. On April 15, 1940, Mary was able to book passage on the S.S. Manhattan sailing from Naples, Italy to New York where her husband was waiting.
Arriving in the US, Mary became a pastor's wife for the next 56 years, as her husband served churches in Hazleton, PA, Minneapolis MN, and Hermitage, PA. She supported him through two building programs, one in Minneapolis and the last being the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Morefield Rd.
Mary taught Sunday School at the churches they served and was always part of the women's organizations, Ladies Alter Guild and Dorcus Circle. Mary was known for her cooking and baking especially German, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak dishes. Her daughters and grandchildren could not wait for homemade sauerbraten, perogi, kolachi and kiffles. Mary was able to reunite after almost 40 years with her brother and oldest sister in Bratislava in 1978 when she and her husband visited. They also brought her brother and sister-in-law to their home in Clark for a month's visit two years after that. She also fondly looked back at trips to Hawaii and Greece with her husband and trips to Czechoslovakia and Europe with her eldest daughter.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Rev. John Kanyuch, sisters, Bertha and Anna Guzikovska and brother, Alexander Guzikovsky. Surviving are daughters, Lydia Suzanne Strand, Burnsville, MN. and M. Marlene Kanuck, Hershey; grandchildren, George R. Knox, North Branch, MN., Jennifer L. Lang, Los Angeles, Stephanie Banjak, Farrell, Derek J. Knox, Burnsville, Marc A. Banjak, Raleigh, NC.; and five great grandchildren; one niece and three nephews.
A viewing starting at 10 a.m. will be followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 3325 Morefield Rd, Hermitage, PA. Rev. Gary Nelson, pastor at Holy Trinity, and Rev. Wayne Muthler, chaplain at Frey Village, Middletown, PA. officiating.
Interment will be at the Holy Trinity Cemetery following the service. The family asks in lieu of flowers that donations be made to Holy Trinity (address above) in Mary's memory.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Mary Kanyuch, please visit our flower store.
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