Antal, Arthur E. (1916-1999)

Arthur Ernest Antal was born October 19, 1916 in Wehrum, Indiana County, PA, the son of Adam and Elizabeth Sirokai Antal. He attended public schools in Vintondale. He was confirmed in the Hungarian Reformed Church at Vintondale in 1928. After receiving a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in 1938, he completed studies at Lancaster Theological Seminary in 1941. He also pursued post-graduate studies at Chicago Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary in New York, and Teachers College of Columbia University. He was ordained in Whiting, Indiana June 7, 1942 and was installed as pastor of First Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church, Whiting, Indiana. From 1943 to 1946 he served as a chaplain in the United States Army in the Solomon Islands and the Philippine Islands. He served St. Paul's and St. Peter's in Parma, Ohio from 1948 to 1951, and just St. Peter's from 1951 to 1954. After serving as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Gowanda, New York for nine and one-half years he went to Carversville Christian Church UCC, Carversville, PA in 1964. In 1969 he took a pastorate at Middlebrook, VA. Three years later he went to Johnstown, PA , where he remained until retiring to Strongstown, PA in 1978. He died February 23, 1999. He was survived by his wife, the former Minerva Bechtold of Lancaster, PA, whom he married in 1943, and three daughters. Sources: UCC Yearbook 2000; Biographical Material; THE CARVERSVILLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1837-1987, by Edwin Harrington (see Church RG 465)