Obituary of John (Janos) Kapas

John (Janos) Kapas passed away at his home on Saturday, August 20, 2011, surrounded by his family, following a courageous battle with Parkinson's disease. John was born on July 10, 1928 in Puzstadobos, Hungary, the son of Jozsef and Elizabeth (Vastag) Kanyuszsik. In the early 1950's the entire Family changed their last name to Kapas. He spent his formative years in Pusztadobos working on the family farm, attending schools in Pusztadobos, Vasarosnameny, Nyiregyhaza and college in Budapest. He graduated with an advanced degree in mathematics. At the University he met Maria Valorie Kiss whom he later married. They both worked at the Statistical Nemzeti Hivatala (Bureau of Analysis). John witnessed first hand the massacre of innocent Hungarians as he lay among thousands of unarmed citizens wounded and killed by Soviet machine gun fire in the center of the Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament building in Budapest in 1956. He had a harrowing escape from Hungary to Czechoslovakia, then to an Austrian refugee camp and then to a German refugee camp from where he embarked to the United States of America arriving at Camp Kilmer, NJ in December of 1956. He was a staunch capitalist and had an extreme dislike of communism. He worked as a gardener/independent contractor on Long Island. He lost his wife, Maria, in 1960. In 1962 he became an American citizen. He was instrumental in helping bring many members of his family to the USA. In 1965, John purchased Level Acres Farm in (Bald Mountain) Greenwich, NY. He considered Greenwich his home. In 1966 he married Anni I. Blomberg. Together they raised their family on the dairy farm. John was predeceased by his parents, his sister Maria, and his brother Jozsef. Survivors include his three children: Joseph and his wife Kelly, Lisa Harrington and her husband Chris, John and his companion Janet. In addition, John is survived by a sister Erzsebet Kapu and husband Andras and a brother Mihaly and his companion Ilona. He is also blessed with 9 grandchildren: Joseph, Janos, Eli, Katrina, Christopher, Kari, Kyle, Josh and Lindsay. He was proud of his Roman Catholic faith. He loved life. He believed in education and hard work. He loved to read and travel. His greatest love was his wife Anni and his family. John also enjoyed building houses. The last house he built was his dream home in Louisa, Va where he and Anni lived until September 2010. Calling hours will be from 5-8pm Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at Flynn Bros. Inc. Funeral Home, 80 Main St., Greenwich. A funeral mass will be held Thursday at 10am at St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich, with Rev. Martin Fisher, officiating. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to Friends of Washington County Hospice, 415 Lower Main St., Hudson Falls, NY 12839. The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to Dr. Tsai and the staff of Greenwich Family Medical, the staff of Washington County Public Health and the staff of Washington County Hospice.