- Date Of Birth: July 20, 1908
- Date Of Death: August 11, 2015
- State: Connecticut
Katherine M. Balint, age 106, a long-time resident of 3030 Park Avenue in Bridgeport, passed away peacefully Tuesday, August 11, 2015. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Katherine had been a resident of Bridgeport since 1980. Katherine had seen the coronation of the last Habsburg king and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Surviving the First World War her home sheltered refugees from Poland. With the country still at war in 1919, the communist regime came to power and her father’s life was in danger and he fled from Hungary. Her mother followed with Katherine. Their escape was incredibly adventurous. They lived in exile until there was a change in the government in Hungary. Katherine, after finishing high school, graduated from Notre Dame College and volunteered to work for the worldwide “Save the Children”. She taught French in high school and later married Anthony Balint. He was selected to represent the company he was working for at the New York World’s Fair and do market research. Katherine and Anthony arrived in the United States in June 1939. The Second World War broke out and they resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They both received Masters Degrees at the graduate school. He was a professor at Michigan State College and Katherine received her Teachers Certificate in addition to her Bachelors Degree in Library Science. Katherine was a librarian at the University Library of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Back in Ann Arbor, she held a fine position at the University Library, cataloging early printed books on microfilms sent from the British Museum. On their one acre land they learned to cultivate plants. She and Anthony moved to Buffalo, NY where both were on the faculty of the University where she taught in the French Department. Anthony was listed in the “Who’s Who” of the East and “Who’s Who” in American Engineering. Since Katherine was allergic to the pollution caused by Bethlehem Steel, and under the advice of a physician, they moved to Switzerland. They weren’t established yet when Anthony needed surgery which was botched, and as a result lost his life. Katherine stayed on for years, attended university, traveled and made friends. She moved back to the United States in 1980 and resided at 3030 Park.
