Chapter 1 - Sam & Ida Rappaport
Mom's Relatives in Rochester
Mom had a fairly large family in Rochester. The patriarch of her family, we suppose, was her uncle, Uncle Sam Liberman. Uncle Sam had a large family himself. He was married several times and his children were Esther Elkin, who lived in Fergus, Ontario; Maurie, a pharmacist; Lou (Doc), a dentist; a stepson Dave (Dud), also a pharmacist; Sylvia Harris, now living in Lancaster, CA; Beatrice Borsuk, and Irving and Jack, also pharmacists. The family had a couple of pharmacists there. Uncle Sam with his last wife, Tante Bertha, seemed to be the head of Mom's family. Prior to the stock market crash of 1929 Uncle Sam had money and the family lived well. After 1929 they didn't live so well, and they moved from a big house on Harvard St to successively smaller houses on Lake Ave and Driving Park Ave. Uncle Sam's job in later years was as shames or caretaker of the "big shul" on Herman St (our synagogue). (The Hebrew name was Beth Hamedresh Hagodel, the Large House of Study.) He had been, at one time, president of the congregation and was probably one of the founders of the "Big Shul". It seemed that our family went to Uncle Sam for advice and approval. He was responsible for getting his family - the nieces and nephews - to this country. We probably spent more time with Uncle Sam and his family than with any of the other relatives.
Mom had another uncle in Rochester, Uncle Harry Liberman. Uncle Harry was a tailor, and he had a shop downtown, just off Main St. Uncle Harry and Tante Minnie lived near us on Cuba Place. (She once told us her name was Aleph, as in aleph, beth, gimel - we had though it was Olive.) Their children were Hymie, Mary Temkin, Nan Goldstein, Esther, Marvin, Arthur, and Sylvia. When Mom and Pop would go downtown on Saturday mornings they would usually stop and visit with Uncle Harry at his shop.
Mom's sister, Tante Esther, was also in Rochester. Uncle Hymie and Tante Esther Gould lived on St Paul St where Uncle Hymie had an automobile repair shop. They had eight children: Pearl, Martha, Mitch, Seymour, Sylvia, Miriam, and the twins, Helen and Herbie. We spent a lot of time with the Goulds. We were the same ages as their children, and we went to the same schools with them. They were and are a very talented family and it was always a lot of fun being with them. Tante Esther loved to sing, and she had a fine singing voice. Unfortunately she couldn't afford to develop it. Pearl, the oldest daughter, was a scholarship student at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, and became a sought after piano accompanist. Martha also studied at the Eastman. All the children, though, were able to play some musical instruments, even if they had no training. Tante Esther and Uncle Hymie seemed to enjoy life. There always appeared to be lots of things going on at their house - like games, jokes, and a lot of talking. The Goulds, though, were not well off at all. They were poor. Because things were bad for them in Rochester Tante Esther and Uncle Hymie and the family moved out to California in about 1936. They settled in Los Angeles, and ended up doing well.
While our family was close to the Uncle Sam Liberman family, the Goulds were close to the Uncle Harry Liberman family.
In about 1964 Lou was in California on a business trip. On a Sunday evening Lou and Bucky drove into Los Angeles to visit with Tante Esther and Uncle Hymie, Martha and her husband, Bernie Axelrod, and Helen and her husband, Irving Geller. It was a nice evening talking about the old days in Rochester. Lou hadn't seen Tante Esther or Uncle Hymie in maybe 30 years. During the visit Lou reminded Uncle Hymie of the time in Rochester when Lou had an accident while driving Pop's car, and how Uncle Hymie was able to repair the car right away without Pop ever knowing about it. Lou was still grateful. (It made things much easier if Pop didn't know about damage to the "machine".)
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