Eliot L. Balazs died August 13, 2012, after a year-long battle against cancer.
He leaves behind numerous examples of his craftsmanship as applied to his building restoration projects, a legacy of honest, thoughtful, and selfless contributions to the Rockbridge County community and beyond, and he stands as a shining example of someone who gave out more than he took in.
Eliot was born in Lexington in 1969 and spent many carefree years growing up on the VMI post, learning from his parents and the community, practicing with several musical instruments, and traveling with the family to the far reaches of the United States.
From his mother, Mary Balazs, he inherited creativity and a sensitivity and compassion for others, and from his father, Gabe Balazs, he learned ingenuity and the ability to meticulously work with hands-on projects.
He graduated from Lexington High School in 1988, and subsequently applied his energy to hands-on building and construction projects. Over time, with training from many in the community, he earned many licenses in his trade and became highly skilled in historical renovation and archeological investigation. These talents materialized into two businesses, a building supply and contracting firm in Buena Vista and Shenandoah Housewright in Lexington.
Eliot was a hard-working and selfless contributor to such organizations as the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council, the Rockbridge SPCA, Habitat for Humanity, the Archeological Society of Virginia, and the Rockbridge Historical Society. He enjoyed many of these activities with his special friend, Hannah Short.
For his organization of the renovation of the "Castle," one of the earliest buildings in the Lexington area dating back to the late 1700s, the Rockbridge Historical Society honored Eliot as one of a very select few individuals named a Lifetime Member.
In the last decade, he went back to school part time, eventually being inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honorary society for his scholastic achievements.
Eliot gave much of himself, and rarely asked for anything in return. As one example of his selfless devotion to helping others, when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, Eliot packed up his truck with his tools and drove down to Florida, offering his services free to anyone who needed help rebuilding their homes.
A more recent example is that, even in the last months of his life while undergoing debilitating treatments himself, Eliot drove 200 miles out of his way three times to drive another cancer patient to the treatment center, a person whom he did not know previously but who had no other means of getting to the center for treatment.
"Eliot, from me as your brother and from the people you have touched in the Rockbridge area and beyond, you are magnificent, and you will be missed. Many cherished you as more than a friend, and your affection for them will long be remembered."
Left behind are Eliot's remaining close relatives, his older brother, Bryan; his uncle, Phil Webber and their family on Eliot's mother's side; and his uncles, Robert Balazs and Loren Balazs, on his father's side.
At the direct request of Eliot, he was cremated and there will only be a small private service at a future time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Eliot's favorite charities, which included Rockbridge Hospice, the SPCA, Habitat for Humanity, and the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council.
"The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed." -Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961).
Arrangements by Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory, Lexington, Va., 540-463-2912.
