Chapter 1 - Sam & Ida Rappaport
Pop's Relatives in Rochester
Pop had a sister Sprische in Rochester, Tante Sprische. Tante Sprische and Uncle Idel were a strange couple. She was lively and bright, while he seemed to be a cold forbidding person. Luckily the children took after their mother. The children were Jack, Irene, Rose, Edith, Joe and David. One son who was born in Russia was not admitted to this country by the Immigration Service and was sent back to Europe. Years later he tried again and was admitted when he was about 18. He was miserable here and committed suicide shortly after arriving. Uncle Idel worked at Eastman Kodak where he was a janitor. Jack worked at Case-Hoyt, the printing firm in Rochester, Irene worked at Eastman Kodak, Rose for a law firm, and David became a manager for Sears Roebuck in Rochester, and later in Baltimore and Washington. Joe left home, became a sailor and a professional boxer, and his family didn't see much of him. The Weckslers lived on Oakman St and later on Huntington Parkway, so we were able to see them quite often also. Tante Sprische was beloved in our family, and she was famous for her bagelach. These were pastries with the thinnest dough imaginable.
The Goulds, the Weckslers, the Harry Libermans, and our family all lived within walking distance of each other. We were in the same grammar school district with the Goulds and the Weckslers, and the same high school district with all of them.
Pop had a cousin Harry Rapoport (he spelled it differently than we did) in Rochester who also worked at Eastman Kodak. Harry and his wife Estelle lived on Flower City Parkway with their two children, Jerome and Shirley. We would seem them fairly often. After World War II Harry and Estelle and their daughter Shirley moved to California. Jerome had moved to Washington. And then we sort of lost touch.
We had a lot of cousins in Rochester, and we spent a lot of time with them. Even if we didn't see all of them every day or every week, it seemed that we were always seeing some of them. It didn't require special visits to see them; they were part of our lives, we were part of theirs.
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