LITTLE ROCK — Carol Wagoner was listening to music in 1958 when a fabulous accent caught her ear.
Earlier that night, she had been chatting with a friend at a club in Tucson, Ariz.
“She told me to look at the group of men foreigners at a nearby table,” Carol says. “The next thing I knew I was being asked to dance. I loved his charming accent.”
Steve Lehoczky arrived in the United States in 1957, having been sent to a camp in New York following his involvement in the Hungarian Revolution.
He had various educational and professional opportunities because of his soccer skills, but he headed for Tucson (with a friend who had also escaped from Hungary), because of his affinity for the Western movies that were filmed there.
Steve had seen Carol once before, when her high school band marched in an annual workshop with other high school bands at the University of Arizona at Tucson, where he was a student.
“It was 11 Hungarian guys and one German and one Swedish guy in a group of us, and we were sitting there and watching those girls,” he says.
As the last of a big band passed by, Steve says, “I see this little tiny skinny thing with a big ol’ clarinet. ‘Look, you guys, at that little skinny girl over there. I’m going to marry her.’”
He wasn’t joking, exactly. Something about her determination appealed to him.
“It was the way she was sticking with that band, getting farther and farther back, losing steps, but she kept up,” he says. “I think she was the smallest thing in the whole band.”
One of his friends hadspotted her at the club and pointed him to where she was dancing with a young man. Steve went over and politely interrupted to ask if he might dance with her. Carol’s dance partner stepped aside, and Steve introduced himself and got her phone number and address, and it wasn’t long before he asked if he could visit.
Carol was only 15, but her mother allowed her to go to a Jerry Lewis movie with Steve, then 25.
“She didn’t know how old he was at the time,” Carol says.
Steve and Carol went out for a couple of weeks, and then had a falling out spurredby letters Steve received from an old girlfriend in Hungary.
They bumped into each other again a couple of months later, the day Tucson’s only ice-skating rink opened.
“I saw this girl holding on for dear life on the side,” he laughs. “I didn’t know it was Carol, but I went over there to see if maybe I could help her.”
Carol was happy to see him.
“And he could skate so well,” she says. “He kept me from falling and taught me how to ice skate. We decided that night we wanted to renew our relationship.”
They had many good times seeing movies, dancing andskating together and spending time with friends. Over the Christmas season in 1959, Steve surprised Carol with a proposal of marriage.
They were at a big dinner party, eating chicken paprikash prepared by one of Steve’s Hungarian friends, and it was close to midnight when Steve pulled a ring from his pocket.
They were married on Aug. 13, 1960, in a Catholic church in Tucson.
Carol had worked all summer, cleaning houses and taking office jobs, to save enough money to pay for food at the wedding reception they had at the home of friends.
“Everything was on a shoestring,” she says. “And our friends had a small house but they had a big patio for dancing.”
They have two sons, Pista Lehoczky and Tas Lehoczky, and one daughter, Emese Lehoczky. They also have two grandchildren.
The Lehoczkys visited Carol’s family in Little Rock for Thanksgiving in 1975 and decided to stay.
“We liked what we saw so well that we bought a house during those four days we were here,” Carol says.
Steve became an American citizen in 1963. He opened Auto Haus and repaired all makes of foreign cars until he retired in 2003. He was also a volunteer soccer coach at Little Rock’s Catholic High School for Boys for 16 years, and he helped start the Riverdale Soccer Club.
Carol was a stay-at-home mother for 17 years before going to nursing school. She worked as a licensed practical nurse for 13 years and is now a cardiac monitor technician at Baptist HealthMedical Center.
Carol says their life has held many pleasant surprises.
“We’ve had a very interesting, exciting life,” she says. “It has not been dull.”
The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “I thought he was very handsome and I loved his accent.” He says: “I thought she was a little skinny thing holding a big ol’ clarinet.”
My advice for a long happy marriage:
She says: “You have to have respect for each other and you both have to be willing to compromise and try to enjoy what each other’s interests are.” He says: “You have to give a little. If you take a little you have to give much. You have to compromise, there’s no way around it, because notwo people are alike.”
As I stood at the altar before we took our wedding vows:
She says: “The priest dropped our ring and I was hoping he was going to find it. I was also hoping they would hurry up because the air conditioning had gone out and it was August in Tucson.” He says: “I was thinking it was hot.”If you have an interesting how-wemet story or know someone who does, please call (501) 378-3496 or e-mail:
High Profile, Pages 43 on 07/25/2010