Frank Gati

Frank Gati was born Gati Ferenc [fair-ence] on June 29, 1938 in Budapest, Hungary just before the Second World War. He graduated from high school there and was attending Miskolc [Mish-koltz] University in his first year when the Hungarians decided to try to rid their country of the Russians. That was in 1956, and Frank was a real gun-carrying participant in the Hungarian Uprising. The Revolution failed, but at age 17, he had to escape and was ready for the adventure of his life. He came to the U.S. on a military transport ship on January 1, 1957 as a refugee, arriving in New York Harbor. He learned English here, starting off at Temple University Intensive English program. He has many stories to tell of those first years. After living in New York, he and a couple of friends drove across the country to San José and then to Los Angeles. On May 19, 1959, he got his first job at the Bank of America where he worked for 38 years, from a reconciler to a computer systems analyst and consultant. After retirement, he took writing classes from CCSF and continues taking writing classes from CLC. This has given him a chance to write about his life and record stories for family and friends.