In which Sylvia Katler (born Sylvia Fishman) relates to her granddaughter Mikhaela some true stories about old Jewish Boston, the Coast Guard, and her Power Macintosh computer*
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1. IN THE
BEGINNING
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"He was a harness-maker at
a factory in Maynard, but let's face it, harness factories only last so
long."
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Mary and Henry Fishman, c. 1940.
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My
father came to the United States in the early 1900s when he was about 17.
I think his family came through Ellis Island and then moved to Maynard.
Some of the family came over and then they brought the rest of the
family. My mother was his cousin, and they got married around 1907. They
don't usually allow first cousins to marry in this country, you had to be
a third cousin, but no one said anything, these were immigrants, who
cared? They didn't have any trouble.
He was a harness-maker at a factory in Maynard, but let's face it,
harness factories only last so long. You've got to remember that they
spoke only Yiddish and Russian. He could read and write Yiddish, and he
learned to read English later on, but never learned to write it. My
mother spoke Yiddish and Russian and later English, and never learned to
read or write. They call that illiterate! But she did know her figures,
and when she went food shopping, boy, no one could cheat her.
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"They don't usually allow
first cousins to marry in this country, you had to be a third cousin, but
no one said anything, these were immigrants, who cared? They didn't have
any trouble."
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2. BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
LEARNING ENGLISH
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"Milton was ten years
after me. He's the baby of the family and he still acts like one."
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My
older brothers and sisters were born in Maynard, and I was the first one
born in Boston. I'm the seventh out of ten, and thank God they were
speaking English by the time I was born. My two brothers--Uncle Abe and
Uncle Ruby--quit school to support the family. But even though Reuben quit
school later on he went to Bentley College, they accepted him even though
he didn't have a diploma. He had already been working a long time, he
even had his own shoe store.
My oldest sister Rose got appendicitis when she was about 13, she was in
my grandfather Aaron's care up in Maine. My family didn't believe in
hospitals, they thought you only went to hospitals to die. The hospital
wanted my grandfather to sign for the operation, but he wouldn't sign
because he was afraid they would kill her. By the time they got my father
it was too late and she died. Nowadays they operate whether you sign or
not.
Auntie Eva was the fourth child. She could speak only Yiddish, and one
day the social workers came to my mother and said "she's of age, she
has to go to school." So my mother took her by the hand and left her
in the school yard!
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Milty and (his mother) Mary Fishman
on the roof in Dorchester, c. 1939. Note the cat and the laundry.
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Eva just stood there, she didn't know what to do, she couldn't speak
English. When the children went inside she stood there and one little
child took her by the hand and brought her inside. The teacher sat her
right in the front row and that's where she learned her English.
Who was the first of us to learn English? I have news for you, it must
have been Aunt Dora. Dora was next, but she had double pneumonia and the
hospital took her away. There were so many children my mother couldn't
take good of her. I never knew I had this sister until I was about 16
years old. She must have learned English when they took her away.
The next one was Hyman, your Uncle Hymie, but I don't know if they spoke
English then. All I know is that when I was around they were all speaking
English. I used to hear them speaking Yiddish, I understood a lot of it,
but I didn't speak it. If they didn't want us to know, they spoke
Russian. Sarah came next, and then Uncle Phillip. Milton was ten years
after me. He's the baby of the family and he still acts like one.
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"I never knew I had this
sister until I was about 16 years old. She must have learned English when
they took her away."
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3. A TALE OF TWO WORLDS
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We had
two worlds. The house was the world of Jewish Orthodox family life, after
school we would have Hebrew two hours a night at the shul. The men were
the ones who were important, they were the ones who would say the prayers
every morning. I liked learning Hebrew, so my father sent me. But it
wasn't important for the girls. There were probably three girls out of
thirty kids in the classroom.
And of course the food was kosher. On a typical day, being a girl, I take
my own breakfast, which was probably an egg and oatmeal and so forth, and
I take my own lunch. The boys got served--my mother made their breakfast
and their lunch for them. But for supper she served all of us, she always
had a big meal, meat and potatoes and vegetables and sometimes fish and
you had to eat every drop of it. On Saturday you didn't do anything, you
couldn't even play ball. The boys went to shul, but the girls weren't
expected to go. But on the holidays we would sit up in the balcony and we
would look on the men down below, and frankly who would want to be down
there saying all those prayers? The temples in those days they were big
things, now they have smaller buildings.
That's the Jewish side. That's one world. And the other world, we did
live a mixed neighborhood, Italians and Irish and I think there was an
Indian family, not from America but from India. Everybody played
together, they were very friendly and they got along. This was the
outside world.
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"The men were the ones who
were important, they were the ones who would say the prayers every
morning."
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"I even thought all the
American holidays, like Bunker Hill Day, were Christian Holidays."
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Holiday card featuring a picture of
the narrator (Sylvia), c. 1935.
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School
was the Christian world, the teachers were mostly Christian and
unmarried. They were dedicated teachers, they were good. In the morning
we saluted the flag and said the Psalm of David, but I figured because it
wasn't in Hebrew it was a Christian prayer. Also the Jewish people say
the last line one way and the Christians say it the other way. At Christmas
time they sang songs, they weren't the ultra-religious carols, just
Jingle Bells. But we knew these were Christian holidays. I even thought
all the American holidays, like Bunker Hill Day, were Christian Holidays.
For example, at Thanksgiving they said prayers--but technically it was an
American holiday. There was a Jewish world and a Christian world, and
let's face it, when you're younger that's all you know.
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"There was a Jewish world
and a Christian world, and let's face it, when you're younger that's all
you know."
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* I originally did this
interview for a class on ethnicity and Modernism in 20th-century American
literature (Spring 2001) with Professor Werner Sollors. The assignment
was to think about what makes an autobiography "ethnic,"
(looking at this really interesting book The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans), but I got somewhat off
track and interviewed my grandmother over the phone for two hours.
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4. MOVING AND WORKING.
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"I remember sleeping three
in a bed at one time, we didn't have a parlor because that had to be the
bedroom."
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Henry Fishman working at a cobbler
shop (The Roxbury Eagle Shoe Repair Shop) in the 1920s.
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Our
family started in Mattapan and moved up across from Franklin Park and
then we moved down near Quincy Street in Roxbury, and then we moved back
up towards Grove Hall, we moved quite often. I remember sleeping three in
a bed at one time, we didn't have a parlor because that had to be the
bedroom.
When we were living in Boston my father was always a cobbler. Before he
learned English they'd come in to tell him to do the shoes and they'd
have to talk in sign language. He eventually had his own shop but I guess
he didn't do so well, in other words, off and on he worked at his shop
and other people's shops. He didn't work on Saturday or Sunday. He was
either working or Saturdays he'd be at the shul, or I guess he played
cards. But I knew when I came home my mother would be there, she was
always home. She was always cooking and I guess she must have done
sewing. Washing diapers, washing clothes, I remember a big copper pot on
the wood stove and it'd always be heating and clothes and diapers would
always be going in there and then we'd hang them out the window, they'd
have those long lines with pulleys reaching across the way. We had an ice
box. It was quite a deal.
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"When we were living in
Boston my father was always a cobbler. Before he learned English they'd
come in to tell him to do the shoes and they'd have to talk in sign
language."
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5.
WAR AND ROMANCE.
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"Because I was in the
service they said 'Oh, you can get married in three days.' It was just us
two, a rabbi, and two witnesses."
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Sarah and Sylvia Fishman in their
Coast Guard uniforms, with brother Milty, c. 1945.
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How
did I meet Zadie? When I was nine years old they sent me to this camp run
by some Jewish organizations in Beverly. They took kids who were
undernourished--although my mother fed us very well. I met Lillian Katler
there and we must have exchanged addresses because she showed up on my
doorstep one day and we became close friends. She had three brothers who
were never around so she was like an only child. One day when we were in
our teens, her brother Leo was between girls, so he drove us to the
party!
At the time I was going to Bridgewater State Teachers College. The
funniest part was I was the only one besides Uncle Ruby who went to
college. We didn't have any money, Bridgewater was $75 a semester, so I
couldn't afford to go. But my history teacher saw that I got all As and
she suggested I go. I think Ruby paid. I had to travel by train, I did
baby-sitting and I was able to pay for the books. Basically I studied
English and French.
When I got out of college I went to work in the Navy Yard. I don't think
I was cut out to be a teacher anyway, but that's all girls were offered
in those days. I was making mattress covers for the servicemen. While I
was there I corresponded with a friend of mine who had gone into the Coast
Guard. She came from a very religious Orthodox family, so if she could do
it, so could I. I already had three brothers
in the Army and one in the Navy. I liked the Coast Guard, I was down in
Palm Beach for six months and then I went to the Coast Guard Academy in
New London, Connecticut (see note 1).
Women had to live off base. I worked in the office, the commissary store,
where people went to buy meats. But I couldn't buy meats there, I had to
find the only Jewish butcher shop (see note 2). You gotta
remember when I was down Palm Beach, I was one of the few Jewish girls in
the whole place. They called the coast guard the Hooligan Navy, because
it was mostly Irish. But you know, when you're in the Coast Guard they
treated you nice.
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Sylvia and
Leon Katler, 1944.
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That's when Zadie Katler, he worked for the state of Massachusetts and
the federal government, he was on his way to California. We were writing
to each other though we weren't engaged or anything. When I was in
Florida he sent me a friendship ring, but I know he was dating other
girls. And he was in no position to get married, there was a war going
on. But we decided to get married and it was so easy, we went down to
apply for a license, we took our blood tests, and because I was in the
service they said "Oh, you can get married in three days." It
was just us two, a rabbi, and two witnesses.
That was August 1944 and the war was still going strong. Meanwhile they
wouldn't let me transfer to California so he came back to New London.
When I got out of the service, the unemployment office (I was collecting
$20 a week) told me to go to the telephone company. But it was a known
fact that they wouldn't hire a Jew there, and they didn't hire me!
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"I worked in the the
commissary store, where people went to buy meats. But I couldn't buy
meats there, I had to find the only Jewish butcher shop. You gotta
remember when I was down Palm Beach, I was one of the few Jewish girls in
the whole place."
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(1) After rereading the interview, Bobie emailed me the
following: "I had 3 brothers in the Army and one in the Navy at that
time. The Coast Guard made me the 5th and Sarah became the 6th about a
year later. I remember my mother had a flag with 6 stars in the window
showing she had 6 children in the Service. She couldn't sign her name on
a check which she tried to cash in the bank (so she always made an x).
When the bank teller refused to cash it, the president of the bank
pointed to the pin she wore with 6 stars on it, and told him to cash the
check. Also, Milton joined the Navy during the Korean War, so that at one
time or another my parents had 7 children in the Services." [return
to the story]
(2) "In the
commissary store they bought all kinds of food. I mentioned meat because
that wasn't Kosher. I remember sending home an occasional pound of butter
or can of salmon because rationing made these items scarce for
civilians." [return to the story]
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6. BABIES, BABIES, BABIES.
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"Who had fun? I was taking
care of babies, after Elissa I had Marshall, and then I had your father
Paul."
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Three generations: baby Elissa with
mother Sylvia and grandmother Mary in 1947.
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After
the war we came back to Boston, as a matter of fact Zadie got a job
before we came back. We decided it was time to have a baby and we had
your Aunt Elissa. We lived in a coldwater flat in West End, across from
the Charles River there. But it was a Jewish neighborhood, there were
Jewish stores. We were able to get hot water from something, it was the
oil burner for the stove. We had an ice box, they didn't have the right
kind of electricity for refrigerators. The ice man would come around and
we'd buy the ice, 15 cents for a block of ice. During the day I took care
of Elissa, took her for walks, and I'd do my shopping or whatever.
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Sylvia with Elissa, Marshall,
Marilyn & Paul in front of their house in Randolph, c. 1956.
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After a while my father finally was able to get us an apartment back in
Roxbury. Unfortunately we spent a week having someone paint over the old
wallpaper, and that was the week my mother died. She loved babies and all
she wanted to do was take care of babies but she had a major heart
attack. She was going to come and sit at the house and look at the baby
here. I was so looking forward to it, and she really loved babies. When Leo's
mother, Bobie Katler, held Elissa she would cry. But my mother had a way
with babies.
What did we do for fun? Who had fun? I was taking care of babies, after
Elissa I had Marshall, and then I had your father Paul. I couldn't let
the kids out in the yard alone, I had to wait after lunch and we'd all
walk to the park. And that's why we moved to Randolph. We moved here when
Paul was six months old and Zadie was working at the MBTA. They needed
someone to do a better job, he made all of $80 a week, they raised his
salary to $90 a week but they lowered it again and he got mad and quit.
So he went to work somewhere else.
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"She loved babies, and all
she wanted to do was take care of babies, but she had a major heart
attack. She was going to come and sit at the house and look at the baby
here. I was so looking forward to it."
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7. PRESIDENT KATLER.
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"Your Zadie was never
religious, I don't know if you call him a radical or what. But he knew
that Jews had to have something."
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Zadie
was never too orthodox. His father wasn't a communist but he was
antireligious, although his mother kept a semi-orthodox life. As we got
older we got less religious, like in Palm Beach in the cafeteria when we
sat down, I was eating this sliced white turkey and I said, "Gee
that tastes funny." The girl next to me said "That's
pork!" When I moved to Randolph there were no kosher butchers here,
I had to learn how to buy from the supermarket, I learned to buy meat
from the shops that weren't kosher. Some of it was the same kind of meat
but they called it different names. Like my mother used to make shoulder
steak, and I found out London Broil was shoulder steak.
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Zadie (Leon) Katler was the first
president of Temple Beth Am, and its first member of the month, 1959.
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Before we moved to Randolph, there had been only two Jewish doctors, a
builder, and a couple of lawyers. We asked the builder "Are there
any Jewish people here?" And we didn't trust him, so Zadie Katler
walked up the street and stopped a guy and said "Are there any
Jewish people here?" And the guy said "What does it matter?
What's wrong with Jews?" He must have thought Zadie didn't like
Jews! When the Christian family next door moved out, a Jewish family who
wanted to move in saw the name "Katler," and she thought that
looked Jewish, so she called me and said "I wanted to know if there
were any Jewish families in the neighborhood?" We had one neighbor
who was terribly anti-semitic, but other than her it was a nice
neighborhood.
A year later there were about twenty Jewish families, so Zadie wanted to
start a community center. We met in a basement, and that's when they
elected Zadie as the first president. We didn't really do much praying,
it was more or less getting together. But then the lawyer from the group
went downtown to get a license from the state and said we would call it
Temple Beth Am because if it was just a community center it wasn't
nonprofit.
Your Zadie was really interested in the youth, he started the Boy Scouts,
the Girl Scouts, he was the youth director for years. He was never
religious, I don't know if you call him a radical or what. But he knew
that Jews had to have something. Basically he wanted a community center
but he went along with the temple. And years later, he was always
frustrated with the rabbi anyway, and the rabbi didn't want a new
community center, he was afraid it would take money for the temple. That
was the end of it for Zadie. Finally he decided to teach at Northeastern
University nights, and he stopped going to the temple. Someone else took
over the youth groups and they started going downhill after that.
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"In the cafeteria when we
sat down, I was eating this sliced white turkey and I said, 'Gee that
tastes funny.' The girl next to me said 'That's pork!'"
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8. LEARNING, TEACHING, TYPING.
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"My neighbor up the street
said she couldn't stand me sitting around the house. She made an
appointment and got me a job at the state department of education."
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I got
my Masters degree in Education at Bridgewater when Marilyn was an infant,
I went evenings and sometimes Saturdays. It took me a few years. I went
evenings so Zadie could baby-sit. After that I decided to take Russian at
Northeastern and I got it free because it was an extension course run by
the state and I was a veteran. And then I took it for two years at
Northeastern, but that was the only Russian they had, so I went to the
Harvard Extension School. It was a little difficult for me, maybe I went
two years and quit in the third year. The second year, my former teacher
from Northeastern was in the same class as me learning more Russian! I
had first taken Russian in the service. I didn't have much to do and the
school there allowed us to take courses for free--during the war we were
friends with Russia. So I figured what the heck, I might as well take
Russian at Northeastern.
When did I start teaching? Your father was in high school at the time, he
was very annoyed, he didn't like me teaching. Let's say he was 16. I was
teaching French at Avon, but it was too much. I hadn't kept up with it.
They were desperate because the fellow who taught French was drafted into
the Vietnam War. So I went crazy, it was a new system, they used tapes
which I had never done. I survived barely, and they wanted to hire me for
English and I said "Forget it!" I had been a housewife too
long.
But a few years later I went to work for the City of Boston. My kids were
all taken care of, they were all finished with school. And my neighbor up
the street said she couldn't stand me sitting around the house. She made
an appointment and got me a job at the state department of education. I
could barely do it, I didn't know how to use the electric typewriters. I
worked there a year or two years, I was getting frustrated and I wanted
to become permanent. So then I got an offer to work for the school
committee in the food service department. I guess you call it a
secretary, I took up contracts and bills.
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"I survived barely, and
they wanted to hire me for English and I said 'Forget it!' I had been a
housewife too long."
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9. THE DIGITAL AGE.
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"I like to e-mail with my
friends, the ones I used to work with, and the relatives. Grocery places
send me online coupons. You name it, I've got it.
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Bobie (far right) holding my sister with my mother, my father, me, and Zadie c. 1984.
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When
Zadie decided to retire I worked another year or so and then I decided it
was time to retire, I think it was 1984. We didn't do anything especially
exciting, we hung around a lot, played with the computer.
Now our first computer was an Apple II+, and it was because Zadie worked
at Northeastern. He was one of the few teachers who really taught them
how to use the computer, he made up his own programs and everything. We
never had an Apple IIe, we went from the II+ to the IIgs. The Apple II+
only worked in capital letters, so when I went from learning to program
BASIC to learning C, that's why we got the IIgs.
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Zadie and Bobie at my high school
graduation party in 1998.
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We had that for a long time, and then your father talked us into a Mac, I
think we had a Quadra. Marshall took that one. And then we had that other
one that your father took because it crashed. Now I have a Macintosh G4.
I almost get a heart attack when it freezes, because you have to put the
monitor on and put the computer on, and of course the pointer is
connected to the surge protector so if you don't put it on it freezes.
Every once in a while I'm careless and I forget to put it on.
I go to all kinds of websites, mostly pictures, clip art, cards, but I
also do tax forms. Today Jerry Druckman, he's a cousin of Zadie Katler's,
he asked me to look up the Better Business Bureau because he signed up
for a cruise, and before he gave them money he wanted to make sure they
were a good company. I like to e-mail with my friends, the ones I used to
work with, and the relatives. Grocery places send me online coupons. You
name it, I've got it.
Bobie at her computer on Rosh Hoshanah, 2000.
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"I decided it was time to
retire, I think it was 1984. We didn't do anything especially exciting,
we hung around a lot, played with the computer."
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