Obituary of Marie H. Eizenarms

On Thursday, May 9, 2024, Marie Eizenarms (née Horvath) passed away at the age of 79 in Rochester, New York with the great love of her life by her side – her only child, Chrystal. In addition to Chrystal, Marie is survived by her grandchildren: Nicole (Ryan) Elmore, Michaela Blom, and Ally Blom; her older brother Jenci “Jeno” and sister-in-law Sally Horvath; her nephew Joshua; niece Julie (Randy) Fowler, Justin Fowler, and Amanda (Brandon) Panzetta; along with many other lives she touched through her work at Centra Financial Group and the Hungarian-American Club of Rochester. She is preceded in death by her mother Ilona Horvath (née Batyka), her father Eugene Horvath, her husband Edgar Eizenarms, and niece Jeannie Horvath.

We cannot speak on Marie’s life without mentioning her family’s extraordinary story to the United States. She was born on November 21, 1944 in Szombathely, Hungary. It was chaotic from the start due to the frequent bombings and her father being enlisted into the army only one month prior to her birth. Before the war, Dr. Horvath was a respected member of his community, serving as the Deputy District Chief in Szentendre from 1940 to 1944 after obtaining a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Budapest in 1935. Legend has it that when he received word of Jewish names in town who would be targeted by authorities, Eugene made haste in the middle of the night to warn them of the impending danger. In March 1945, his army unit was evacuated to Austria and he became interned at Camp Feistritz as a displaced person. During his time at the DP camp, which lasted until 1949, he worked as a pump station mechanic, fire policeman, woodworker, and trained to become a tailor. His craftsmanship could be seen in the wooden manikins he made and gave out to guards to win their favor – eerily similar to a plastic children’s doll which would become popular across the Atlantic a decade later.

Marie stayed behind in Hungary with her mother and brother until the fall of 1956, when they began their escape on foot to the Austrian border. The reasoning for this was due to the poor living conditions they were subjected to under the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party that had them nearing starvation. Hopping over fences, hurrying across potentially mine-laden fields, sleeping in a shed, they managed to evade the Secret Police to safety. The family along with other Hungarian refugees were invited to seek asylum in the United Kingdom. They stayed in Scotland for a year awaiting resettlement approval to the United States. The family spoke almost no English but they had their father’s support, who made arrangements to arrive in advance to support their transition. In a strange new land, the Horvath family was reunited and Marie finally met her father in-person at thirteen years old.

In Rochester, Marie met Latvian immigrant Edgar Eizenarms and gave birth to their daughter, Chrystal. Although not affluent by any means, they had more than enough love to uplift each other in the intergenerational household shared with Ilona and Eugene. Marie worked a variety of jobs while raising her daughter, but her most cherished career path was when she joined the Centra Financial Group in 1996. She excelled in her role as Para Planner until her retirement in November 2013. With an incredibly determined attitude, she would move cases at whatever cost necessary even if that meant working late on weekends. From the words of her respected colleague Randy Schuster, “She was ahead of her time and always did what was in the best interest of the clients with total holistic planning.”

Outside of work, she was involved in the Hungarian-American Club of Rochester where she served as President from 1983 to 1989.

After a challenging yet interesting childhood and successful career, Marie deservedly retired into a life of leisure. Gardening, enjoying red wine, and taking care of her putty-cat “Conga” were some of her favorite pastimes. She was a woman of great humor and strength; her loud hearty laugh will be remembered fondly.

The family would like to extend sincerest gratitude to Dr. Harris and the nursing staff at Strong Memorial Hospital for providing comfort in Marie’s final days. She will be interned with her mother, Ilona, and father, Eugene, at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York on Saturday, May 25 with a private family funeral.