My Son-in-Law, Roland - AKA Clotbuster

Roland the Clotbuster

Today is my son-in-law's birthday.  As you can see from the picture, he is many things.  In addition to being the husband of my daughter and father of my grandson, Roland is passionate about educating the public about blood clots and how to prevent them.  He is a triathlete who uses his races as a vehicle for increasing awareness. You can check out his blog by clicking on this link: http://clot-buster-triathlete.blogspot.com

My daughter, Liz, met her future husband while attending DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.  Roland has an interesting personal history.  His full name, Imre Roland Varga, reflects his Hungarian heritage.  Roland's parents, Imre and Ildiko, defected from Hungary at the height of Communism.  It is a story in itself.  They eventually ended up in Venezuela where Roland was born.  In his family, it is traditional for the first-born son of the first-born son to be named "Imre".  Thus, my grandson Ian's full name is Imre Ian Varga.

After graduating from high school in Venezuela, Roland's parents thought it would be important for him to become proficient in speaking English.  Never mind that he was fully bilingual already -- English is the language of business.  So they arranged for him to be an exchange student in Evansville, IN where he attended an additional senior year of high school.  The family Roland stayed with in Indiana encouraged him to consider attending college in the United States.  The husband was on the Board of Trustees for DePauw and, as they say, the rest is history.

Roland, Liz and Ian

Liz and Roland started dating their Junior year.  As Roland wanted to be an electrical engineer, he had to complete his education at Washington University in St. Louis.  Their relationship was not an easy one to maintain as Roland had to transfer to St. Louis and eventually got a job in Kansas City.  Liz, meanwhile, spent a semester abroad in London and returned to Cincinnati after graduation to pursue her Master's Degree in Genetic Counseling.  During two summers, Roland stayed with us as he pursued summer internships.  We feel so blessed that the two of them hung in there and became the parents of our beautiful grandson.

So here's wishing a happy birthday to Roland.  Who knows what we'll be able to write about by his next birthday.

Love,
The In-laws -- Bill and Kathy