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Recollections of Carol:
They would certainly start with my early memories of Aunt Gert driving the two girls, Marilyn and Carol from Pittsburgh to Brooklyn for a visit.
This always took place during the summer, hence my vivid memory of Aunt Gert’s darkly tanned left arm. It was before auto air conditioning and she had driven 9 hours with her left arm resting on the open driver’s window.
Aunt Gert was an impressive woman, solidly built and with a keen sense of who she was.
When she didn’t agree with something you said or did she would begin her reproval with the words, “ Well I’m sorry but in Pittsburgh we …..\
And there she inserted the necessary corrective language.
When she said these things it was clear that she was speaking for all of Pittsburgh which was apparently the paragon of correct behavior.
I then remember that Carol and I got in trouble over Pistachio Nuts.
As I remember I bought a pound of pistachios and Carol and I sat on the stairs that lead up to the 2nd floor of the Brooklyn house eating away.
Aunt Gert came upon us and was very angry with me. I was leading my younger cousin astray in some way and she scared hell out of me.
I remember Carol as being a very pretty little girl. Marilyn was “plump” and has now corrected that by keeping her weight under 53 pounds at all times.
Sadly, we did not see too much of each other because of the distance. I do remember that when the Novaks travelled to Pittsburgh, also once a year, Julian Levinson often took the 3 of us and later 4 with Judy, to the “Best Ice Cream in Pittsburgh” and therefore the best in the world. To this day I have not told my cardiologist about that ice cream and, , I am still trying to make up for that ice cream.
Carol, I think, has a lot of Gerty in her.
She doesn’t share the physicality or the absolute conviction that she was right about just about everything, but I think she has Gerty’s drive and will to accomplish without too much reliance with others.
When I heard that she and Margaret Thatcher were sharing an apartment in London I was flabbergasted.
Then the accomplishments in Israel: Librarian to most of Israel and Safta to an extraordinary family, but more of that in a minute.
Carol and Ken came with us on our honeymoon!
I still don’t know quite how this came about. There was some type of planning because we each took delivery of a sports car when we arrived. We had a Porsche and Carol and Ken had a little Italian car, who can remember?
I think we both drove through Europe and I do remember spending a good deal of time on the French Riviera. Not a bad way to start.
I will just finish by saying how much we were moved when we visited the family in Israel. Three full generations of really wonderful Parents and Children bonded together and extraordinarily caring and gracious.
That is Carol’s legacy. A wonderful, intelligent, sensitive, nurturing woman who has produced a family infused with her unique qualities
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