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As
a child his favorite past-times were playing soccer and
singing. His musical talents were evident at an early age. So, when it came time for him
to attend theology school, he chose the Seminary Sremski Karlovci, which was known for its
excellent musical training as well as its theological teachings. He graduated from there
in 1940. With the outbreak of World War II, and Tito and
the Communist party rising to power in Yugoslavia, Milan was finally forced to flee from
Yugoslavia and then spent several years in displaced persons camps in Italy and Germany.
As a captive in these camps, he organized his fellow displaced persons into a choir.
When United States
President Harry S. Truman signed a new immigration law, Milan Bajich was
allowed to emigrate to the United States. Proto Mladan Trbuhovich who was then serving the
Cleveland, Ohio, parish, sponsored Father’s coming to the U.S. in 1949 to serve as
Proto Trbuhovich’s church cantor and choir director.
When he began
directing the choir in Cleveland, the president of the choir was Mary Coso. In 1951 they
married and lived in Cleveland almost five years before Father Bajich was ordained. In
February 1956, the ordination was performed and shortly after that he was assigned to the
parish in Kansas City.
When he came to
St. George, the church choir, which had been made up of only women’s voices, became
a capella. Over the years Father Bajich has musically arranged church songs as well as
secular ones, and translated many of them into the English language. Kansas City’s St
George Serbian Orthodox Church was among the first in the United States to have choral
responses to the Divine Liturgy sung entirely in English.
For over
thirty-eight years, Father Bajich served as the parish priest of
St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Kansas City, and for over forty years he served as the Choir Director.
That torch has been passed to
one of his sons, Peter. His wife, Protinica Mary, died in 1986, but her hard work for the
prosperity of the parish and her kindness is still remembered. Proto Milan and Protinica
Mary were parents of eight children, seven of whom still reside in the Kansas City area
and are active members of the St. George Church. |
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