Alfred Harry Wass was born June 8, 1902 in Passaic, New Jersey. His parents, Thomas and Anna (Zaturesky) Wass, were Hungarian immigrants. Thomas was originally from the town of Nagykáta, about 40 miles outside of Budapest. Alfred had one older brother, Thomas Jr., born in 1897.
The Wass family lived on 6th Street in the East Village. Thomas Sr. worked as a bricklayer and later in a pencil factory.
Alfred was blind. It’s unclear if he was disabled from birth or lost his sight due to some childhood illness, but he was noted to be blind on the 1915 New York State census at the age of 13. Alfred’s disability left him unable to work, but he excelled musically, playing both piano and violin. In the late 1920s he was a regular performer on the Coney Island radio station WCGU. Radio schedules in the Brooklyn papers referred to him as “Alfred Wass, blind violinist”.
Thomas and Anna Wass died four days apart in November 1939. Alfred moved in with a couple named Kalman and Bertha Cebecauer on the Upper East Side. He was still living there when he filled out his draft registration in February 1942.
His physical description on his draft card states he was 5’8” tall, 165 lbs., had a ruddy complexion, brown hair, and blue eyes. It also states that he was “totally blind”.
It’s unclear how long Alfred stayed with the Cebecauers, but both Mr. and Mrs. Cebecauer passed away in the Spring of 1953. Alfred’s older brother died in 1965.
Alfred died at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens on July 29, 1986. He was buried on Hart Island on August 12 of the same year.
Sources: 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. Federal Censuses; 1915 and 1925 New York State Censuses; The Brooklyn Times-Union; New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980; New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949; U.S. Social Security Death Index; United States World War I Draft Registration Cards; United States World War II Draft Registration Cards.