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About Carol
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My Mother...
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My mother's parents came from Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and settled in New York. My mother had an older sister (15 years older) and one brother who was her junior year by 18 months. My mother and her brother were very close even though they lived in two different cities. My maternal grandfather passed away when I was eight, I loved him dearly. He was religious, he smoked like a chimney, and loved to sing songs in Yiddish. In the summer we would visit family in New York, and Grandpa would take me on his shoulders to the playground, would sit me on the swing singing in Yiddish - he was always happy. My maternal grandmother passed away when I was 10.
My mother loved popular music, theatre, parties, people, etc. She was an avid baseball fan and listened to the Pirate's games on the radio. She was a talented vegetable gardener, priding herself in her produce. In her youth when as a single woman my mother worked for Leron on Fifth Avenue, New York, as a bookeeper. Following her marriage, she did not work (my father did not want her to work), but was a serious volunteer of Hadassah. She gave of her time and her purse, and was active in getting powerful and wealthy women to donate to Israel in their own names. My mother was among the founders of Lion of Judah - women who contribute to Israel annually and demonstrate leadership. She was awarded the "Man of the Year" award for excellence from the Israel Bonds – it was the first time a woman won it. My parents have always said that if we have one loaf of bread, we must give half it to the hungry and the other half for our family. After the death of my father, my mother donated a new pharmacy in the Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus in his memory, established and maintained the Hoffman Judaic Collection at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Library . She founded a youth library in their synagogue, Beth Shalom, Pittsburgh. Along with it all we always lived modestly. Until the age of 12 we lived in a rented duplex where I shared a room with my sister.
My mother came alive in the summer when she would take us to New York to visit her family. My father would stay home because he had to work. My mother's brother, Uncle Leo (Ron Novak's father), would buy tickets to Broadway shows; at age 8 I went with my mother to see all of the great musicals on Broadway. Uncle Leo taught me to play baseball, to ride a bike, swimming, fishing and clean raw fish.
For many years I was curious as to how my father connected to my mother's family (my mother was born and raised in New York). So after I retired I went to Lithuania to find my roots. First trip documentation can be read in http://www.kapciamiestis.org/trips/ Dorothy Leivers wrote The Jews of Kopcheve, 2006
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