Dr. George Gyula Szucs
died September 18, 2012 at the age of 88 years. He claimed his greatest accomplishment was his family and he leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Margit Szucs, 3 adult children, Lite Szucs of Tacoma, Zsuzsa Blaine of Bellingham, and Eva Carleton of Gig Harbor. He has 6 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren mostly all living in the greater Northwest, but a few spread out to as far as Alaska, California, and Utah. We all dearly loved him and we know and felt how much he loved us.
George was an old-time family doctor practicing in Bellevue since the early ’60-s. He took care of patients when Overlake Hospital was a 20-bed community facility and Bellevue had only one stop light and Nordstrom was a shoe store. He delivered hundreds of babies who are themselves now grandparents and parents in the larger King county area. He was loved by his patients and was a kind and excellent doctor. Even as an 80 year old he would frequently attend the “old doc” medical meetings at Overlake Hospital and bemoaned the thinning of the ranks of those old doctors as the years passed.
George was born in Nagyrabe, Hungary, and came to the United States at the time of the Hungarian Revolution against Russian control in 1956. He was a vocal revolutionary against the Russian take-over of Hungary, and when he found out he was to be arrested the next day (and possibly shot), he took his wife and two babies, and fled on foot through gun-fire controlled fields to Austria and then was brought on to the United States by Red Cross evacuation flights. He worked day and night and retook his medical exams, and redid his internship in New Jersey and came to the Northwest a few years later because he didn’t like the hustle-bustle and dirt and noise of the New York City area. He first worked at a State medical hospital and then opened his own private practice office in Bellevue in 1962.
George and Margit formed many, many close and dear friendships over the years, many friends in the medical community, and many in the artist community (Margit became an accomplished artist in the area). Then there was also the Hungarian community of friends who would get together for epic ping-pong tournaments, and great parties drinking and singing old Hungarian songs into the wee hours of the night.
The grandkids loved the retired “Papa” who baked the most fantastic Hungarian bread and cooked the best Hungarian “goulash” west of Hungary itself. The grandchildren lined up for his famous foot rubs. The great-grandchildren over-filled their tummies with his home-made rice pudding that he would prepare just for them — more recently bent over the cooktop, sitting on his stool, with his cane by his side, patiently stirring the milky-rice mixture while it cooked. His garden was immaculate and full of flowers which he took care of with great pride until the last weeks of his life. His kindness, generosity, and compassion, was most felt by his wife in these last years as he became her medical and physical caretaker as she suffers through her disabilities.
We all love you Dadi, Papa, Nagypapa, Gyuszi, and shall so miss you! Rest in peace!
There will be a memorial service at Sunset Hills Memorial Funeral Home in Bellevue this Sunday, September 23, at 1 PM to commemorate George Szucs’ life.
