Drawn to carve in wood

86-year-old's passion dates to early youth

Ervin Fuzesi is seen behind a wooden basket that he carved. Photo/Louie Traub/View

Ervin Fuzesi began carving with a simple jackknife at age 7, whittling animals from dried peach pits.

"I made thousands of them," the 86-year-old Sun City Summerlin resident said.

By age 11, he was making wooden boxes for an exporting company. The summer job paid for his school tuition. He later became a cabinet maker.

He was drafted into the Hungarian Army, not to fight the Nazis, but to use his carpentry skills to build bunkers and bridges. He eventually married and moved his family to Canada in 1964. He relocated to America about three years later and spent 21 years as a carpenter for General Motors in Detroit.

He and his wife, Olga, obtained a second home in Florida, where a sculptor let Fuzesi use his studio. He used alabaster and limestone to create abstract designs, which sold in Florida galleries.

Fuzesi said his love of wood keeps him busy these days. He has joined the Sawdusters, a Sun City club, where sharing ideas is not uncommon. When club member Dan Golich needed to cut Plexiglas for the window on an American flag display case, Fuzesi showed him the best way to do it.

Mostly for pleasure, Fuzesi now creates sculptures, bass relief wall hangings, miniature rocking chairs and household items.