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Pavol Palkovic June 14, 1930--April 14, 2009 |
Pavol Palkovic was the youngest son of Cyril Palkovic, the brother of my grandfather, Thomas Palkovic. Pavol was a professor of theater at the University of Bratislava. He knew English, so he had been the link between our families in the United States and Slovakia, since we met him in the early 1980's until his death in 2009.
When we visited Bratislava in 1987, we had the opportunity to meet Pavol's wife, Stephanie, and other members of their family.
Sadly, Stephanie died soon after our visit there. I'm so glad we had a chance to meet her. Recently, when going through my mother's old photos, I found a picture of Pavol and Stephanie on their wedding day. It was at that time that I realized that the photo my grandmother gave me when I was in high school of a handsome cousin in Slovakia was Pavol.
Pavol was a happy, fun-loving man. When he first visited here in the 1980's, he fit in with our family right from the start. We all enjoyed him so much. He is a creative man, interested in many things. He and my Mom traveled a lot together. They even had a chance to meet Edward Albee in person in New York City.
In 1998, Pavol made a second trip to the U.S. His second wife, Katy, came with him. They spent two weeks in San Diego with David and me. We had lots of time to get to know each other. It was a great visit!
Professor Palkovic has published books and professional articles. I searched his name on Google and was led to two sites, one which listed some of the works he has published. In 2008, he finished another book. "Drama in Slovak Literature and Theater" (his English translation of the title). I'd love to get these books translated.
In his 1998 trip to the United States, Professor Palkovic was invited to give a talk at the University of Pittsburgh. The talk was in English . It was about Sam Shepard's play, A Fool for Love. With Pavol's permission, the text of that talk is available on this website. Here are two websites, in Slovak, about Pavol:
http://www.osobnosti.sk/index.php?os=zivotopis&ID=1211
http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavol_Palkovi%C4%8D
It was sad to learn that our cousin and good friend had passed way this year. We will miss him a lot. We send our sympathies to his wife, Katy, and his children and grandchildren.
