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Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Thanks, Mike, for the Sukot Greeting!   You are more aware of the Jewish Holidays than most people I know!

My professors at Arizona State University keep scheduling Tests on Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur, and this year, they did that in my Granddaughter's class, too! There are 2,000-3,000 Jewish students at ASU, but I guess the Professors don't read the emails from the Anti-Defamation League every Fall !

PS - My granddaughter just composed her first online feature story called "A week in healthy college living."  (She is "into" Fitness "Big Time!")You can find it under "The Chic Daily!" on Instagram, or on Twitter. (She sent me an email, 'cause I don't do those websites). Her name is Sammy Byrd!

Jo-Ann, I always knew we had something in common!  My ancestors were also Polish!  My Mom's Grand- parents came from a little town on the border of Poland, Russia, and Austria, called "Kamanetz-Podolski." It is no longer there, because it was absorbed into the Ukraine, where my Father's ancestors lived.  She could not read a word of English until she went to Kindergarten.  She was born in America, but the family read & spoke Yiddish (Hebrew & Polish mixed together).  She could read an entire Yiddish newspaper, sitting on her Grandfather's lap & write letters in Yiddish, but she never taught us about it!  It was "a secret language" between her & her Sisters & Brother & Cousins. Her Great-Grandfather was a Rabbi in Poland who wrote commentary on the Talmud (Jewish Law). That is probably why my Mom, my Sisters, and I are all so interested in "The Law" today, although none of us are Attorneys!  

 When I married Joel, my Mom used to write letters to his Grandmother ("Bubbie") in Yiddish!  "Bubbie" came from a tiny town in Russia  where the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, lived. He looked exactly like Joel's Uncle in Chicago! - they were Cousins!  Another famous person there was the writer of Jewish stories, Sholom Aleichem (real name- Solomon Rabinowitz).  He was a funny man;  the play & movie, "Fiddler on the Roof" was derived from his stories!  Plus, there was an illiterate Jewish man in my Mom's Grandparents' town in Poland, who used to walk the kids to Hebrew School. He couldn't read or write, but he could SING & DANCE!  So that filtered down through our family, too, and ALL of us love Music & Dancing!  His nickname was "The Baal Shem Tov" ("Master of the Good Name"), and an entire group called the Lubavitchers exists today in many countries. (They wear tall hats, long black coats, and long beards.)

 My Dad's Grandfather came to the U.S.A. through England & when he reached Ellis Island, they changed his first name to his last name, because they couldn't read or spell his given last name. (That's how we ended up with the last name of Wolfe! My Dad added the "e" because he said "it looked like a Wolf without a tail!"

Anyway, this all goes to say that there are many types of intelligence: Musical, Artistic, & Literary Skills, in addition to Math, Science, etc. Read Howard Gardner's "Theory of Multiple Intelligences."  It is an Eye-Opener!

(PS- I also HATE changing lightbulbs on the ceiling!  I give that job to my daughter or my husband, because I am scared of heights & afraid to lose my balance!  So we have something else in common!)  I LOVE your stories!  Keep writing them!

Jo-Ann Olkowski

Ahh, Marilyn ... so you are Jewish with your ancestral roots Polish/Russian.  So is mine!  My Dad's familyn settled in Buffalo, NY.  His grandparents on both side entered the US in the 1880s at the Port of NY at Castle Garden (now a park/historical museum in lower Manhattan).  Ellis Island became the Port of Entry later.  Dad's paternal grandparents lived in territory controlled by the German Kaiser, his maternal grandparents lived in Russian held territory under the Czar.  Either way, all Poles were in deep trouble.  It's a country that's very, very rich in it's history and contributions to the betterment of mankind over the centuries. Unless you've already read it, I have a book recommendation for you:  Poland - A History by Adam Zamoyski. It's an excellent read with maps of the ever changing borders of Poland on all sides and some beautiful color pictures of Polish artifacts. It was only at the end of WWII that Poland had absolute borders as a nation, but you may already know that.

Also, if you have not already seen the movie "Imitation Game." It's an historical account of a brilliant Englishman whose efforts in WWII to solve the secret German communications system Code named "Enigma"  which ultimately saved England from total destruction from bombing by the German planes. There was little to nothing said, but at the same time there were 3 Polish Jewish scientists/ mathmatitions also trying to break the code. In short, this Englishman designed and built the first mainframe which over time would envolve into today's internet. 

I don't care what Al Gore said ... he did NOT invent the internet!  He is also not Jewish/Polish/Russian!  LOL!

We'll have to discuss further, Marilyn in another "venue."

Love to you and yours,

Jo-Ann

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Thanks, Jo-Ann, for those references!  I was going to Research "The History of Poland" a few years ago for a course I was taking on "Cultural Diversity in Education," so I could give an assigned Oral Report on the ancestors of "My Role Model," who was my Mother, or "The Ukraine," where my Dad's ancestors were born, but the Professor limited our choices to someone alive who could be interviewed, and they had both passed on, along with their Parents & Siblings. So I never completed that Research, and it is STILL something I need to do!  The "Russian Ancestry" is all my husband Joel's, on his Mother's side.  She & her Mother (his Grandmother) looked & acted exactly like Russian characters  you might see in a movie, and his Grandfather had already passed on.  The only possible relationship I could have to Russia would have been that Russia invaded BOTH Poland & The Ukraine, and the Cossacks invaded the Jewish community in a series of Pogroms, and THAT is why my Grandparents in BOTH countries decided to move to the U.S. A.!  I often wish I had asked my Mother questions about her Grandparents, who lived in her house when she was a child & never spoke a word of English! (Neither did she, until Kindergarten!)  But kids are not very foresighted, & most of that information was not discussed as part of our daily routine. It only "came to light," as they say, when my Mother began to write her memoirs for a book club she joined in Annapolis, Maryland, where she spent the last  5 years of her life with my Sister. She never saw the book published during her lifetime. My Sister & her Gardener (who was also a Photographer) gathered up the little stories & had them printed into a tiny book, along with some rare photos of her & her Mom & Siblings, plus some famous locations in Baltimore, where she & her Siblings & my Father were all  born. She met him in Richmond, when she came to visit her cousins!). So all I know about my "Family History" is in that little book, plus the fact that my Great-Great Grandfather in Poland was a Rabbi  & a Scholar of the Talmud.  I once had a great desire to visit Poland & see where my Great-Grandparents lived, but the village where they lived is no longer there, and the land  is covered by a large factory, according to my Sister, who actually saw the place. So all I can do is to look at the old photos in a book my Sister found at a book fair, about the old Jewish Community of Poland.  They all look like my ancestors may have looked. (My Mom told me that whenever her Grandmother saw a camera pointed in her direction, she would leave the room!  I guess that superstition left us with no memories of that generation other than "stories!"  

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Important Note to all Westhampton School Alumni: 

Belle Landrum has all the up-to-date details on Westhampton School!  She has complete architectural drawings & all the information you need available on email.  Send her a request at BelleLandrum@yahoo.com.   We are trying to save the large trees & the playground needs to be restored! 

Russell Flammia

Thanks for keeping us aware of the situation at Westhampton.

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Belle has a lot of details I don't have time to copy down, Russell!  

But she will be at  the next Tee Jay luncheon so you can hear them firsthand!

Russell Flammia

Thanks Marilyn,  looking forward to seeing her at the luncheon on Oct. 20.

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Good, Russell!  Maybe  she can find others for "our cause" at the Luncheon!

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

I saw Belle's Post of all the buildings which are planned around the Elementary School Building of Westhampton School, minus the Junior High School Building, the playground, the concrete basketball, tennis, and hopscotch playground, and the athletic field.  It looks very crowded!  - no open spaces around it, and nowhere  for children to play!   It's times like these, when I wish I didn't live so far away!  I have no voice 3,000 miles away, and Bon Secours does not seem to care what anyone thinks, while they are busy "making money.". 

Belle thinks we should push to preserve the Playground area & move the Medical Office Building to the Parking Lot of the Hospital or at Willow Lawn Shopping Center!!! Plus, those big trees should be preserved!   If anybody reading this agrees, please call or write Bon Secours!  I called their Corporate Office in Maryland listed on the Internet, and they didn't even know about the project in Richmond! I think it is a poorly-managed operation with a horrible communications system!  But Belle and Mary Murray and I are only 3 people from our Class of 1958 at Westhampton! They need to hear from more voices!  I think it is a travesty!

There is a huge castle in Greece that was built many, many centuries ago (2,000-1500 B.C.E.) called "Knossos."  I think this is the TRUE model for Bon Secours, because they are playing "King" in what was once a a residential neighborhood.  There will be traffic problems & nowhere for kids to play!  All this, for Bon Secours' "Love of Money!"   I predict "Trouble ahead!"

Please speak up, by calling their Office or Writing to the Editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch!

Thanks!

Marilyn Ruben

Belle Landrum

hi Marilyn,

Thank you for posting.\ some opf the info about Westhampton.  One correction.  I suggest that the medical building placed on Libbie Avenue be moved to Bon S. property at 5800-5900 PARK Avenue, across from the projected garage/apartment bldg that will take up the jr high building.  That would leave open the old children's playground and save the old trees and bushes.

Belle

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Good, Belle!  Hope it works out!

Jo-Ann Olkowski

For hours now I have been watching full coverage of the horrific situation at a Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA where there have been multiple fatalities, three police officers shot and wounded by a crazed gunman, now in custody, purportedly shouting, "All Jews must die!".  To all my Jewish classmates whether I know them or not, I am so, so sorry this tragedy has happened.

All this bitterness, hatred, verbal and mob-like attacks have got to stop.  We are all better than this, it is not who we are.  This is not who were were as students. 

I can only say to all of you, "Be well, be safe." 

Jo-Ann

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Thanks, Jo-Ann!  We Jewish students appreciate your concern!  There is a rash of mentally ill people "out there" now who have been attacking churches and synagogues for a while, and all of them should have been living in an institution somewhere!  I don't know what we did wrong to engender all this hatred and violence, but from my professional training, I would say that either they are on drugs, or else they have been listening to too much "Hate Talk" on radio, tv, or online!   (Maybe both!)  Many churches & synagogues now hire Security Guards or Police Officers to protect them from harm, and they are stationed there BEFORE the troublemakers arrive!  It is a sad commentary on our times that this has to be done!  I, for one, think we need to have a Law against "Hate Speech" which needs to be passed in Congress and it could be Amended to Laws in many States against "Hate Letters & Inciting Violence!"  But I think we need to start at the White House, because most of the Hate Talk seems to come from there and the KKK!  These are very scary times!  And this week isn't even a Jewish holiday!  What to do?  Call your Congressman and U. S. Senators, plus State Legislators!  They are the only ones who can change this trend!

Russell Flammia

         JoAnn & Marilyn,  you have spoken well about what is the present and hopefully the temporary state of our nation. Sadly these attacks are almost becoming common place. When I wrote my last research paper for my master's degree I found many studies  showed  that much of the violence in our society was due to what we saw on TV and at the movies.  With 'advances' in technology we can add in other sources of video violence. After a certain point studies showed that individuals became insensitive to violence and its results. The sadness and hardships that are longlasting is seldom shown in these venues. Let's hope and pray that we will wake up as a nation.

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Ah, Russell, we think along the same lines, and I was not a History Major!  There was a lot of Research re. "The Effects of TV and Movie Violence on Kids and Adults" back in the 1960's and 1970's, but apparently, either all those Researchers have stopped teaching or publishing or gone to their home in heaven or nobody read the Research, except you and me in our generation!   Instead of making things better, everything got worse!  I remember walking out of a violent movie after we had lived in Arizona for over 10 years, and now there are less than 4-5 movies we go to see all year long!  Cable TV isn't any better than the old TV, and the Internet is even WORSE!  The "Hate Talk" is what really bugs me!  It always seems to "mushroom" into Violence!  I was trained in the area of "Prevention," but that is a word from our generation. Everything now is "Crisis-Oriented!". Wouldn't it be wonderful to pull out your old Research Papers from Grad School and find an audience that wanted to learn about "Prevention?" I'm sure your Students at TJ probably picked that up from you while you were teaching, but this is another generation coming up, and maybe they didn't have that good luck!  I had only one chance in Arizona to do that, and my audience was quite resistant to change!  How do we educate the public on important issues like this, when they don't want to listen?

Thanks for your comment!  I appreciate it very much!  I also wrote a lot of Research papers in Grad School, but mine were centered on "Family Systems," and Domestic Violence is STILL "out there," 36 years after I wrote my papers! Everything recycles, because people don't seem to want to learn from the past!

I personally can't wait until November!  A lot of people are looking for "Change!"

Ernie Bolling

Russell and classmates.  It is so terrible to see the killing of our Jewish fellow citizens.  This follows so many other similar cases including the shooting of the bible study in Charleston a few years back, the attemped bombings, shooting at varous schools, Las Vegas, and others,  At TJ one of the many good lessons I learned was religious tolenance.  I never remember "ever" seeing or hearing of any religious conflicts.  I value my Jewish and Christian friends and neighbors and  pray for all of them.  Our country and world need to embrace our differences and lean to coexist and love our neighbors.

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Thank you, Ernie!  Jo-Ann & I were just writing each other last week that we don't remember any incidents like this EVER happening in Richmond, or at Westhampton School or TJ!  Richmond always  had excellent Interfaith Relations!  Maybe Pennsylvania needs to set up a Council for that, too!  This is hard to comprehend, because anti-Semitic incidents have occurred in the Ukraine, in France, in New York, and in other synagogues recently, just like the ones in churches!  There are some very troublesome thoughts about religion in the minds of some people these days!  I like hearing the Pastors, Priests, and Rabbis speaking out about this, but somehow, they are not reaching "The Unaffiliated Ones" who are commiting these crimes.  I wish there was more "Prevention Programming" going on to reach that catchment group.  The Anti-Defamation League has prepared school programs on these topics.  I guess it is time to bring them back again!  These problems have been circulating since 1939-44 and even before then!!  In the words of Meir Kahane: "Never Again!" or we will be turning the clock  back 75 years!  It is good to have supportive  friends like we knew/ know  at TJ!  My daughter's in-laws have lived here for over 100 years, and they have built a strong support system here too!  That is the best way to counter-attack all the hate & violence "out there," I think!  Thank you for your kind thoughts, Ernie!  I appreciate that so much!  Our tiny synagogue here in Yuma only has 15-20 members now, because about 150-180 of them moved away or passed away!  We don't even list the address publicly!  Interested Jewish people who move here from out-of-town or who join our Marine Base  have to call on the phone to find out where the synagogue is located, because we share a building with a Humanistic Church!  A synagogue can never be"too safe!"

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Melvin Katz, I love the photos of you and Elsie in Greece! They are quite timely, because I am taking an online course about the History of Greek & Roman Art, and I have only seen their  Painted Vases, Stone Carvings, and Sculpture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and th San Diego Museum of Art. I would LOVE to see Greece and Italy one day!  It looks like a fantastic trip!

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Mike, I somehow landed on your page on this Website, and I am awe-struck re. your photos!

WHERE did you EVER learn to take such amazing & incredible photos?

They are Masterpieces  !!!

You should be displaying them in an Exhibit somewhere !

Mike Floyd

Thanks, Marilyn,  The first two, I think, are actually by John Boatright.  At the time I posted them you couldn't post for another classmate and give them credit. 

My wife took a photography class for several years with weekend homework assignments and took me along with her on the assignments.  I learned a great deal from her.  We both have had shows a number of years ago.  We both still like to play with taking photos, but not as many as in the past.  We also took a photograph class from a photographer from National Geographic.  The last photos were of the sailboat at sunset and the tree growing out of a building were taken for his class.  The last three photos I believe were by Dale Bagby Waters.  

My photos were from the British Virgin Islands, Edinburg Scottland, the North Sea, Highlands North Carolina, Marathon Key, Key West and home on Robinson Creek and Urbanna Creek.

Mike

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Mike, I knew there was something about your photos that caught my attention!! We subscribed to National Geographic for many years, and your style sure emulates theirs!  Your landscapes are breathtaking! People  out here do a lot of landscape photography, but Desert Landscapes are a whole lot different from awesome pix like yours, with all the beautiful colors!   I have to wait until we go to San Diego to get photos anywhere remotely as nice as yours!  Great job, Both of you!  (And John and Dale, too!!)

Russell Flammia

     I just wanted to take time to thank all of our veterans for their service.  Thanks are also extended to their families as well, because the entire family is involved with movings, the possibility of combat and all the risks that go along with it.  THANK YOU!

                                  America, home of the free, because of the brave.

Marilyn Wolfe (Ruben)

Great idea, Russell!  I have noticed lots of people in our graduating class have served in the Armed Forces since our Graduation 55 years ago!   I am so proud of those classmates!  They bring honor to our school!  Thanks to all the Vets who have served and those who are still serving, along with  those in the next generation!  Our class put out some great men and women!

Rocky Smith

we had no choice wheather to serve or not..we had something called "THE DRAFT"

Jo-Ann Olkowski

I'd like say, "thank you and you're welcome" on behalf of my son, Chris, who is a retired 20-year veteran of the Army Military Police K-9 division (both drug and bomb sniffing).  He still serves his community as a civilian police officer.  He made the very most of everything the Army had to offer to forward his advancement from one goal to the next. He's been places and seen things I could never hope to see both stateside and overseas.  He has done himself, his family, and his country proud.

You're right, Rocky, back in the day we had something called "the draft." Alas, no more. At some point, Chris took some time off from active MP duty to serve as an MP Drill Sergeant.  He called me one day and said some of the enlistees were the sorriest pieces of humanity he had ever seen in his life - couldn't do one pushup, couldn't half read or write, couldn't march, hike, assemble a tent, etc.  He found himself drowning in a sea of paperwork mustering those people out and sending them back home.

Freedom is not free - it comes at a cost - lives lost, limbs lost, devastated families who will never again see their sons and daughters. Families "serve" as well - hoping for the best, fearing the worst.  I would like to ask of all my classmates that every time you see an old timer wearing a baseball cap indicating he or she is a veteran, take the time to shake their hand and thank them for their service, every time you see a uniformed National Guard person, take the time to thank them, every time you see a uniformed police officer, take the to thank him or her for their service.  It will only take a minute of your time, but it will absolutely make their day just to know that someone cared enough to just say, "Thank you."