Dr. Aladár Kern's grave

Dr. Ágoston Szász remembered Dr. Aladár Kern in the 1898 yearbook of the Szépes County Medical and Pharmacist Association: ; “One of the youngest members of our association has distinguished himself in person, at the age of 36, an age when the most beautiful future, the most vibrant hope, encourages the forward-looking young man, the strong-willed man, to activity. ; Aladár Kern was born on October 23, 1861 in Liptó-Ujvár, he was the son of a popular, highly sought-after treasury doctor and received an excellent home education, especially from his mother, who was his everything and pride. He completed his secondary schooling partly in Levoča, partly in Késmárk, with a short interruption, when after completing the 4th grade he entered the Spiš-Olasz pharmacy owned by his brother-in-law as a pharmacist trainee. Here his ambition awakened and, wanting to achieve more, he returned to the Késmárk high school, where he took the graduation examination in 1881. Here we see him not only as a diligent student, but also as an excellent a music lover, who through his private diligence mastered the playing of several instruments and as such awakened the Keszmárki Lyceum band from its slumber and became its conductor. ; In 1881 he went to the University of Budapest, where, having completed all the medical courses, he was ordained a Tudor on January 18, 1888. During this time, he was not only a tireless medical student, but also an unparalleled social factor, because on his initiative, the rising Spiség university citizens, who had been absent until then, joined the “Szepesi Society” formed by the Spisé university citizens, and he was the one who established a choir in this circle, which spiced up the monthly evenings with its singing. ; After his initiation as a Tudor, he worked on bacteriological examinations for 9 months with Dr. Otto Pertik, a teacher, in order to increase his knowledge in this field, which was so indispensable at that time. ; Towards the end of 1888, he settled in Szepes-Szombat as a practicing physician, where he spent his entire childhood and youth. We welcomed him with joy, his friends in Szepes-Szombat and in a short time he became not only a good friend, but also a popular doctor in Szepes-Szombat and its surroundings. However, all this did not satisfy the young man who was striving for progress, he mentioned many times how much he regretted leaving his alma mater, from where, if he had not been able to stay there, he would have more easily reached a position with a wider scope of operations, because he could never get used to the fast-paced practice in Szepes-Szombat and its surroundings. It is no wonder that under such circumstances he would have wished for a better position in several places, but luck was cruel to him, and even when he got a seemingly very excellent position in 1896, he was terribly disappointed. He went to Komlós in March of this year On the 1st, where he held a position as a district physician and two manorial positions, his stay there was the most difficult period of his life, as he said, a young man who did not lack social life, a man always striving for higher goals, a doctor thirsting for scientific work, at the persuasion of his acquaintances, piled up with promises, settled in a wasteland, became the sole inhabitant of a dilapidated house, it is almost unbelievable, but it is a fact that he was lured to such a place with wasteland promises. Seeing this, he wanted to return to Szepes-Szombathely immediately, but he was reluctant to return to those who had bid him farewell only a few days before, to those who had begged him not to leave them here. ; His work in Komlósi was a real penitence for the young doctor who deserved a better fate, as he told us several times, he sat in rickety carts during the day, traveling from patient to patient, and even in return for the promises made, because even the tender He was promised six-figure sums of money for the new year, but at night his sorrow and indignation would not let him rest, nor even his faithful dog, whose echoing barking had woken him up from his already weak sleep countless times. ; It is no wonder that he fell seriously ill under such circumstances. He developed a runny nose, which was soon joined by bed symptoms, he hallucinated for several days and after his recovery he did not remember what had been said, he had not been healthy since this illness, he suffered from constant headaches, which he could soothe but could not cure, and when one day, for no apparent reason, he noticed symptoms of coldness in his right limbs and blurred vision, he hurried back to his true friends and returned to Szepes-Szombathely on October 1 of the same year. ; The mood of our brave comrade was now unrecognizable, he had become a reclusive, cheerful, energetic young man He became a serious, gray-haired man who feared for his life, who only talked about his troubles to everyone, but with his goal in mind, he started his practice, but he could not continue for long, because his headaches, which were joined by passing but painful chills, soon put him to bed and brought with them a long series of sufferings and finally on April 25, 1897, his inexorable death. ; Seeing all this, talking about everything with him as a doctor for half a year, with him who wanted to live for his mother, who only thought of enjoying life from now on, with him who was my friend and good comrade, - was equal to suffering, but I had to endure it, because I was also born a human being. ; His death was a loss primarily for those who had unconditional trust in him as a doctor, a loss for his friends, but also for our association, of which he was one of the youngest members, who I can safely say could have been one of the pillars of our association would have. ; May his memory be blessed!”