ELEANOR ROTHFELD ORAL HISTORY

CHRISTA WHITNEY: This is Christa Whitney, and today is September 13th, 2016. I'm here in Torrington, Connecticut, with Eleanor Rothfeld, and we're going to record an interview as part of the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project. Do I have your permission to record?

ELEANOR ROTHFELD: Yes, you do.

CW: Great. So, first of all, what do you know about your family background, say, your grandparents' generation?

ER: Right. Well, my mother's family, there were three girls, two boys. Her 1:00father was from Russia. He was sent as a young child to Poland, to family, because they were -- there were pogroms where he lived. And he had two brothers, and the three of them were sent to different places. And he never had track of them. So, he was really an orphan.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: And he grew up with her as neighbors, or maybe even in the same house. I don't really know. And they married. In fact, he took -- his name was Mauer, his 2:00last name. But many occasions, because of the times in Poland, he took her parents' name so that it looks like part of the family. And as I said, they had five children, three girls and two boys.

CW: Do you know what he did for a profession?

ER: Yes. They were farmers. They lived outside of the town. They raised chickens, sold eggs. At that time, a lot of the -- that's what they were. They grew vegetables. And that's the way of life. Her mother, my grandmother, my 3:00mother always described her as the queen. She had all these children who pitched in. And she said one thing about her, which I thought was cute. She says her mother wore high heels and pearls. (laughs) And then, this one sister got married and emigrated to America. The other siblings died during the World War II. My mother met my father at a wedding, and he was a soldier at the time. He 4:00had a small business selling -- he called it crockery. But that was like, dishes and lamps and, I suppose, pots and pans. Everything kind of -- he described it as "better housewares." And he was taken into the Polish army. They got married. And my mother worked with him in the store. And I was born.

CW: So, before we get to that, what do you know about your father's family?

ER: Family. My grandfather was a very religious man. One of his wives he 5:00divorced because she wanted to go to America, and he would not go to a non-religious place. One wife died. And in the Jewish religion, a religious man should have a wife. He married my grandmother, my father's mother, when she was eighteen, he was fifty. And they had three children: my father and two sisters. He also had an older brother from the very first wife who was -- he was very 6:00fatherly with my father. He really took care of him. And my father was apprenticed to a watchmaker at nine years old. And my father wasn't that good with his hands. He was more with his head. So, that didn't last long. He did not want to do rabbinical studies or anything like that. And the years went by. He did whatever he had to help the family, because the religious men don't earn very much. Am I right? (laughter)

CW: Do you know the names of the towns?

ER: Well, I know they're originally -- were from Lemberg, which I think is 7:00L'vov, where it's in outside of that area. My father was from Austria, really, because he used to tell me they pledge allegiance to the Austrian king, and he was very good to the Jews. But as I said, they met at a wedding, a mutual thing. Then he was -- World War I, he was taken into the Polish army. And he was a foot soldier. Then the Russians came, and they took over, and he was put into the 8:00Russian army. And he tended the horses. That was the job they gave him. He got wind of the fact that they were going to ship him to Siberia. So, he left everything. He left my mother and myself and made his way across Europe and couldn't get any passports or something, but he was able to get to Mexico.

CW: Do you know why they wanted to ship him to Siberia?

ER: Well, it was toward the end of the war. And they needed workers in Siberia. 9:00So, you know. That was a good bet. (laughs) Who else would you send up there? They sent criminals. They sent disenfranchised people, like the Jews or the Poles, whoever they had captured. So, he ran away. He wasn't one who was gonna stand still. And when he went to Mexico, he didn't know the language. I mean, he spoke a little French, he said, because he stayed wherever it was, and he had to 10:00learn. And of course he spoke German and Polish and Russian.

CW: And Yiddish?

ER: I think German and -- and Yiddish. Of course. German and Polish he spoke well, but not Russian. When he came to Mexico, usually the Jews would find -- Jewish conclave of some sort, you know, either a shul -- I wouldn't say a temple. They didn't have temples. They had shuls, which could be in a room in somebody's house or something like that. As long as they had ten men to make a minya [sic], the service. So, they helped -- you always went to your people for 11:00help. And they gave him a basket of donuts to sell on the street corners. At that time, that's what people did. They peddled. And he did that.

CW: Now, do you know -- did he stay near the coast, or did he go into the city?

ER: He was in the city at that time. He went to the city. And the miners came from the hills to buy tools, because at that time they were working on gold mines and copper mines. And he thought to himself, I'm not gonna get anywhere 12:00with the donuts. And he wanted to bring his wife and child over. So, he got a donkey. And he would buy tools and go up to the hills and sell it directly to the miners. And it saved them a way, and then he sent for my mother and myself.

CW: And you -- so you were born --

ER: In L'vov.

CW: In '25?

ER: In '25. My parents were born in 1900. Oh, God, he would have been 116; 13:00wouldn't that've been great? (laughs) He died at seventy-nine. My mother died at eighty-seven -- eighty-six, excuse me. Anyway, we went through steerage or what did -- I don't know. You know, a funny thing, they didn't like to talk about these things. It was kind of left unsaid. And they went to live up in the hills, in these -- I don't know what they are. Shacks, with no roofs. And my mother said you had to keep your food under your covers, because if the animals smelled 14:00the food they would come around.

CW: Do you know the name --

ER: It was tough.

CW: -- do you know the name of the town where this was, with the mountains?

ER: Well, I know they were in Chihuahua, which was a county, a whole thing. I know my brother who was born in Mexico was born in Coahuila. I have it written down somewhere. I can't pronounce it. Which was like, I would say -- they must've moved around in that area until they came to about twenty-five miles from the United States border. I have my brother's birth certificate, so I know 15:00where they were, and I looked it up in the map. And it was close to the border. And I think they may have chosen that area that they traveled through, that's called Copper Canyon area. And if he sold tools he must've sold it in that area, and then they slowly moved toward the border. From what I understand, it cost him two hundred dollars -- (begins to cry) pause me.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: It cost two hundred dollars to go across. My father brought with him five 16:00books, his prayer books. My mother brought her candlesticks and us, my brother, myself. And I don't know how they made their way to Newark, New Jersey. My mother had an uncle here. My father didn't have anybody here. My mother had this uncle who owned a --

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: -- and they had us live above the stable. And by then I was, like, four years old, and that I remember. There were horses, and I was afraid of them, and big dogs. And one of 'em bit me. And I never liked a dog that was bigger than 17:00me. (laughter) And I am afraid of horses. And we were there -- my father got his first job in America at a place that would be -- like you would see at a fair, where they sell hot dogs and hamburgers and corn. And his first job was shucking oysters and clams. Now, here's a Jewish boy who had never seen (laughs) anything. That was his first job. But as I said, he was entrepreneurial, and he 18:00went into a little luncheonette in 105 Springfield Avenue, Newark, New Jersey. That I remember. And we lived in an apartment above the store. By then, my brother Sidney was born. And --

CW: Is that your second brother?

ER: Yes. I had two brothers. George and Sidney. By then, I was five years old, six years old. I took care of the boys. And my mother always worked in the store.

CW: Do you remember what the store looked like?

ER: I have a picture of my father in the store. There was a young man who worked for my father that I adored. That I remember because I knew him even when I grew up, that he was close to the family. There was a movie house across the way, and the first picture I saw was "The Mummy." And ever since then I don't see scary pictures. (laughs) I used to go into the movies at, like, six years old, and it was entertaining. From that store -- by then, my dad contacted my mother's 20:00sister, who lived in Brooklyn. Her husband worked in the garment industry. They had two boys. And my mother wanted to move away from where she was. I don't know what the reasoning was. By then, it was in the early '30s, at '29 and '30. And my dad had saved a thousand dollars. And they were talking that they were going 21:00to take the money away, the bank holidays, or some problem. And he felt that if he invested his money, it would be safer. So, we moved to New York. And he bought a restaurant on the Bowery. And he was illegal. So, he couldn't get licenses. And he had to come to other people to, you know, front for him, so he 22:00can do his business. And somehow, he lost the business. Then there's these brokers, which -- you see, they do that with the immigrants that come in, they set them up in a vegetable store or -- like, the Pakistanis go to gas stations or -- you know. They don't own them. They just work and try to pay it off. But somehow in the paying off, they lose the business, and it goes -- these people go on to the next one. Well, they talked my father into going into a place in Harlem, on 125th Street. By then we lived on the East Side, at 143 Orchard 23:00Street, in a railroad flat.

CW: Can you describe what a railroad flat is?

ER: One room leads into another, without a hallway. You just go in from one door to another. There were two apartments on the floor with a bathroom in the center. We shared that bathroom with an Irish family. They were six in the family. And we were three children -- well, they were four children and two adults, and we were three children and two adults.

CW: Did you get along?

ER: Yes, yeah. Obviously you have to. But you stood in line. (laughs) But we were young. We were little. And there was a coal stove. There was a bathtub in the kitchen, with a porcelain -- metal porcelain top that you use as your cutting board or -- you know, you prepared your food. And they would take off the cover when you took a bath.

CW: Where did you sleep?

ER: Well, my mother slept with my two brothers in the room that would normally 25:00be like a dining room, off the kitchen. My father slept after that in the next -- in the bedroom after that. I slept with my dad till I must have been about eight years old. Then, they put a cot in the living room, and I slept in the living room till I was twelve. And before that, we came really to the East Side, he had this store up there --

CW: In Harlem?

ER: In Harlem. And he was chased out by his help because he said he didn't like 26:00that they didn't collect money from their friends. And they said, If you don't like it -- they held a butcher knife at him. If you don't like it, that's it. But one thing I remember about my father up there was he used to walk home to save a nickel. And he opened a pushcart on Orchard Street at that time, selling 27:00-- which he knew -- hamburgers and hot dogs, things like that. And my mother would peel potatoes, and they'd make French fries. And she made the best French fries.

CW: What were they like?

ER: Delicious.

CW: Skinny or fat?

ER: Medium. But they were good. And in the cold weather, they both were outside. My mother used to wrap stuff around her feet. And, you know, in those days they didn't have boots. They wore galoshes and --

CW: Can you describe what Orchard Street looked like at that time?

ER: Well, it was all stores. And pushcarts, one after another. And every store 28:00had a stand outside showing its merchandise besides. It was lively. It was clean. One of the things I remember, there used to be a very nice-looking black man who used to come around and sing Jewish songs to collect money. He would sing all the time. He always -- remind me that he looked like Harry Belafonte: tall, stately. And he would sing the Jewish song. He would even wear a yarmulke. 29:00And --

CW: What kind of stores do you remember?

ER: Well, I just want to finish --

CW: Sure, go ahead.

ER: After -- this was very hard, having a pushcart with food. So, my father switched. And he started to sell menswear: belts, suspenders, rubbers -- I mean, you know, galoshes and rubbers and umbrellas and things for a while. And one of the stores emptied out, and he went into that store. So, here he had his shop 30:00all ready. And -- all with menswear. I remember fur-lined gloves.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: And the stores there are very much I think like today, only today they're classier. They carry brand goods and all. But there were luggage stores. There were ladieswear. Shoe stores. There were a number of shoe stores. My first job when I was twelve years old was on a Saturday. I would work for this neighbor. He sold slippers and casual shoes. And I would stand outside and direct the people in, and if they ask questions I would answer. And the Saturdays that I 31:00didn't do that because my parents were working. By the way, they worked seven days a week. But they were observant in other ways. The only time I remember that they were closed was Yom Kippur and the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Let me see.

CW: So, can I ask you --

ER: Sure.

CW: -- how -- what -- how did you celebrate? Did you have a Friday night tradition, or --

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: Friday night -- yes. We had our chicken and our soup. And matzah balls and 32:00all. Holidays were always special. My mother would go to the live market, buy a chicken. And she'd pick out the chicken and wait for the shoykhet [ritual slaughterer] or -- you know, the ritual killing -- and bring it home. She would pluck it. At Purim, she would bring home the live fish. What else? I loved the pierogis my mother made, and hamburg-- which she'd -- hamburger meat which she would grind herself with the different meat, and I have never tasted a hamburger that tastes like these. I know they always say in hindsight, but it wasn't in 33:00hindsight, because I was -- even when I was grown in a family of my own, I enjoyed going to my mother's hamburgers and French fries and, as I said, pierogis and delicious soup, and the honey cakes and the -- I don't know how she did it all herself, besides working. I took care of my brothers. We would go to the movies once a week. My mother would give us ten cents, and we'd buy three Tootsie Rolls, three lollipops, and we'd go. When I was thirteen, we moved 34:00across the street to a building. Then we had a regular stove, regular bathroom. I still slept in the living room on a cot. It was very nice. Oh, we didn't have refrigerators. We had iceboxes. 'Cause I remember the iceman coming up and all. And by then, my father got tired of the pushcart business and the stands, and he went into a store on Delancey and Essex streets, where the subway was, and he 35:00opened a men's store. This would be in the late '30s, like 1938 or '9. And he sold, as I said, all this menwear [sic]. And I worked in the store after school. If somebody needed a size fifteen shirt and we didn't have it, my dad would give me money and I'd go back to Orchard Street to the wholesaler's, and I'd tell 'em what I wanted. I'd bring it, and they -- and I brought it back. And the customer 36:00really liked -- we enjoyed it. It was fun.

CW: So, what languages did you hear growing up?

ER: Well, my parents spoke Yiddish for many years to each other. But then, somewhere along the line they just spoke English, maybe a Yiddish word here or there. What was odd to me, the year before my father died, I was walking with him, and all of a sudden he started to speak to me in Yiddish. That was the year he died. Which was strange, because he never did. And that was the only time he 37:00spoke to me in Yiddish. I understand, and I was able to speak a little broken Yiddish, because I enjoyed the fun of it. In fact, we used to have a friend, my husband and I, where we'd come up with a Yiddish word and say, Do you know what this word means? (laughs) And so, we would have fun. In fact, just recently, a friend of my daughter's -- her daughter is in the Midwest, at a Indian school, and they're trying to bring back languages. And one of them is Yiddish. The 38:00mother asked me if she sent me something phonetically, would I be able to tell her how to say it in Yiddish and all. I said, "I'll try, but I'm pretty rusty." (laughs) So that's -- you know, like a lot of children of my generation, their parents wanted them to assimilate: to learn the language, to love the country. Coming back to the love of the country, I didn't know I wasn't born here. Because when I went to school, they registered me as being born -- you know, everything was kinda loose -- as being born in the United States, in Newark, New 39:00Jersey, where we lived. They sent me along to kindergarten. Nobody asked questions. And so, I always thought I was a true American. Which I am, whether I'm born here or not. I remember seeing President Roosevelt coming for the naming of his park on the East Side. We used to go there. I used to take my brothers. They filled -- they had a little wading pool, and they filled it. And I can see it even today, him -- because I never saw something like that, so it stayed in my mind. He waved to everybody. He was in this big touring car, with 40:00motorcycles behind him and in front of him. And people were cheering. It was really an exciting thing to see. So, what happened is that the war started.

CW: World War II?

ER: My dad had to sign up for the draft. He was forty-two years old. Of course, they weren't going to take him, but he signed up. That's when they knew he was illegal. And he went -- by then he went to the HIAS, and they were helping 41:00people like himself to become legal. And I was devastated. I mean, you know, the war was coming on. We were all so gung ho. It was -- we were doing something. America was special. And my parents were always that way. So, as I said, I think it cost him about fifteen hundred dollars to pay for passage. We went on the 42:00train to Canada. We went on the train to Canada. When we got at the station, we crossed over to the other side and went back to the States. That was the exchange. And then we were legal, but we weren't citizens. I didn't become a citizen till I married my husband. He was my witness, and we went down to City Hall, and I was sworn in and everything. And then I realized, then, why everything was so difficult for my parents, why he always -- he didn't want to go someplace, because he never knew -- you have that European mentality that 43:00everybody is behind your shoulder. I understand when they talk about, now, sending people away and then when you're ready, we'll take you back. They're leaving homes. They're leaving jobs. They're leaving children. Or they're taking them out of -- and they're scared now. I mean, I feel sorry for them. They're scared. They don't know what to do. How do I hide myself? And today you can't even hide yourself. So, that was my background. And, of course, getting married 44:00to my (laughs) wonderful husband, for sixty -- we're four months shy of our -- five months shy -- of our sixty-ninth anniversary. We have something to look forward to. And that started our life together.

CW: So, can I ask a little bit about what it was like growing up Jewish? What was Jewish about your upbringing?

ER: You know, I was Jewish. I lived in a Jewish community. I went to Hebrew school. We observed the holidays. Friday night, my mother -- even though she worked all day Saturday, she lit the candles. I knew the prayers. We sat 45:00together on a Friday night and would -- and we all had a little taste of wine. I didn't know anything else. I didn't eat things that weren't kosher. I didn't do that until I was out of high school -- the last year of high school, when I started dating. My first time going to Forty-Second Street, I was seventeen. And although I went to a school, Seward Park High School, there were -- I had good friends with everybody, but I wouldn't go out with a gentile boy because it 46:00wasn't -- I mean, you just didn't do it! There was no stamp on you that you were Jewish. Nobody told you the thing. But this is what you did. It's just different. And there was a different -- every ethnic group at that time was very into their own. I mean, you had the Italians in Little Italy, and the Irish were on Third Street in the Clinton -- past Houston Street. But I had friends. I went there and everything. But we didn't fraternize. It was different. As I said, I 47:00didn't go to Forty-Second Street until I was seventeen.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: We ate well, because that's important to Jews. But we never felt poor.

CW: Did you see the results of, I mean, the Depression? You were young, but --

ER: No, because my parents hid it from me. I mean, you know, we didn't see it. Everybody was the same. And all you want to do is play.

CW: So, I asked you if you ever went to the Jewish theaters?

ER: Oh. One other thing about -- you said how was our household, how Jewish. I remember, like, Yom Kippur, my parents stayed in the shul all day. We would come 48:00in, we'd come out and all. But it was my job to -- before they came home, to light the stove for the chicken soup. And that's the way they broke the fast, with chicken soup. And then it was a dairy meal. But I would light it for them for -- that was my job. I would go home just before the end of the service and do that. We used to go to the Jewish theater all the time. I went with my parents. And even after we were married, or keeping company, my husband would go 49:00with us too. He didn't know a word of Jewish, of Yiddish. I mean, he can -- maybe he knows "l'chaim" or something like that. (laughs) But I would sit there and explain to him all the action. And I saw all the great Yiddish actors. I saw Molly Picon on the stage, Thomashevsky, and I love the theater. I loved it when I was -- when I grew up, and I was dating this one fellow, and we used to go every Saturday to a play. At that time it wasn't expensive. And I saw -- oh, I 50:00saw -- who played in -- well, I saw Rex Harrison and -- I forget her name already. A lot of the stage -- oh, I saw Tallulah Bankhead, Ezio Pinza -- all these great -- oh, and I saw Nureyev dance like an angel. And so, I got my love in theater from that, it was really -- the Jewish theater was very expressive. It was a fun -- because they made fun of life. And that was very nice. And then 51:00we would eat in the Jewish delicatessen. That was the treat. We would go. And, as I said, even after we were married, whenever we were with my parents, we would go to the Jewish theater.

CW: Can you describe -- was it Second Avenue?

ER: Second Avenue Theater.

CW: So, what did it look like?

ER: Well, it doesn't look like a movie house. It was more like pictures you see of the theater, with the heavy curtaining, the lights along the sides, I remember. And I also used to go -- when my parents lived in Miami Beach, they 52:00had the Jewish theater. We would go all the time. It was one of the things they liked to do. And they liked to go dancing on the beach. They had dances for the people on the beach with live musicians. And so, things were nice. That was after the war. My dad stayed in business until '43, when the black market came in and merchandise was hard to get. And he didn't like doing that kind of business, and he got -- he left that. What he did, he started -- before that, he 53:00started looking toward investments, because there were people who were making a living on that, and so he went into that. He borrowed -- at that time, it's like today, you can borrow money for two percent. But the only thing is, at that time, you can buy something that paid you four percent. So, you had that two percent. But you don't have that today. (laughs) So, that was our entertainment. And we had friends, you know.

CW: Did you have a radio?

ER: Oh, yes. Are you kidding? I couldn't wait to get home from school to listen 54:00to "My Gal Sunday" and "The Guiding Light" and "Buck Rogers" and all those stories. I loved 'em. That was my -- and then, when I was -- I cleaned -- while my mother was working on Saturday, I would clean the house. We had two radios. And I'd have them both on for the Saturday afternoon opera. So, I'd have 'em both on so it'd be like stereo. (laughs) It was very nice. They don't have that anymore, but it used to be something I grew up with. And that was part of my 55:00education. It wasn't something that was just spoon-fed to you, where you have to be taken and all. Your parents didn't do that. You kinda grew up that way.

CW: Can you tell me about your Jewish education?

ER: I just went to Hebrew school. And I think when my children went to school, that's when I renewed my Jewish education. And even though my daughter didn't want to go, she had to go, because I firmly believe it's the women who help keep 56:00the Jewish life alive and continuing. If a girl isn't educated, how is she going to educate her children? So, it was very important to me. She didn't want -- none of her friends went, but -- c'est la guerre [that's war]. She had to go. And the truth of the matter is, in later life, she decided when she was about forty to be bas mitzvahed. And she can read and hold her own in any temple. So, I'm very proud of her.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

CW: Looking back at what your parents passed on to you, what was important about 57:00being Jewish?

ER: I don't know. It's an acceptance. I didn't think of it. I didn't think, Why am I Jewish? or something like that. Although we -- at one point we lived next to a church. I love their bells. And I love the fact that on Sunday they were all dressed and came out. And it was very -- and I didn't feel envious or anything. I had my own holiday. In those days, you coincided with each other without thinking of it. It wasn't something you had to think of. You accepted it.

[BREAK IN RECORDING]

ER: Now we question it. But it was -- I'm Jewish. I don't know anything else.

CW: And how was it different -- what were the decisions you and your husband made with your own kids?

ER: Well, they had to have a Jewish education. To the point, my son used to go to -- had a hundred percent attendance on Saturday morning. And we had been visiting Florida, and on the way back, he lamented that his hundred percent attendance will be broken. Now, the reason he had a hundred percent -- well, we 59:00lived right in the vicinity. It's easy and all. So, we drove -- you weren't with us, but my brother George drove with my parents, and he was taking my son and daughter and myself home. We drove a hundred miles out of our way to go to a temple, and he came in just as they were singing "Adon olam [Jewish prayer, lit. "Eternal Lord"]." So, we assured him -- you know, he was a young kid -- we assured him, That'll suffice. Your attendance (laughs) isn't broken. And he went on to Hebrew high school. And now, he likes to officiate at weddings. He's a 60:00doctor, by the way. And he just married his niece, and he goes through the whole story. So, they have a feeling. He's more -- they're both just regular people. They don't have that same feeling that I had, because that was my way of life. I'm happy the way they turned out.

CW: Is there anything you would want your great-grandchildren, say, to know about your background that we haven't talked about?

ER: No. You know something, each one lives in the moment, with those around them. We're just onlookers, as being great-grandparents. At one point, they'll most likely remember an anecdote or something like that, but they have to find it for themselves. You can only teach them so far and just give them the 62:00opportunity to find it. I was very happy -- my grandchildren married in the religion. Now, my grandson is not going to marry in the religion. He went -- I mean, it's his own life. And it's his parents that have to concern themselves, not -- it's too late for me to put in any input.

CW: So back to Yiddish, what does it mean to you? What does Yiddish mean to you?

ER: It means my mother and father. (whispers) I think that's what it does. It's 63:00what they call mame-loshn [mother tongue language], that it's the mother tongue. Even though I don't speak it.

CW: Do you have any favorite Yiddish words or phrases?

ER: Not really. I don't use 'em. At one time, I did. I still sometimes speak the way Yiddish -- you know, kind of cross over. I don't know how to express it. But rather than start with "I" or whatever, I'll start backwards and say (laughs) something that comes out the way you would say it in Yiddish. I can't think of 64:00an expression now.

CW: "You shouldn't know from it," something like that?

ER: No, I don't --

CW: No.

ER: No. It's just that I express it the way it -- in Yiddish sometimes the -- you'd say -- this isn't the way I mean it. In English you'd say, "Let's eat." Maybe I'd say, "Eat. Let's go." (laughs) Something -- I transpose it. I'm glad that there is the Yiddish bookstore. We went to see it when it first opened. And 65:00I'm very proud of all the work that's done there, because it is important. And -- maybe some day it'll -- it'll always live in somebody's heart.

CW: Well, from all you've been talking about, is there anything else you want to add?

ER: No. My personal history is -- it's not important.

CW: Well, I want to close by asking if you have an eytse [piece of advice], a piece of advice, maybe, from your rich life, for your -- the coming generations?

ER: Well -- I don't know. Dream big. Work hard. Because it's worth it. And if you don't make it, it doesn't matter either; you've tried. And that's the important thing. I don't believe in slacking. Both my husband and I, we always felt that our hard work paid off. And we said, If we don't last this long -- it's unusual to find people in their nineties already together. And we look back 67:00at our accomplishments; we're very happy what we did. I mean, we didn't need a yachts or fancy things in life, but we had a very good life. We have nice children. We have good grandchildren. They're all contributors to society. We're looking to kinda downsize, and I've been taking things together. I was telling my daughter, and she said, "Why don't you call Brothers and Sisters? They'll pick up, and they'll be very appreciative." And she's been a Big Sister now, 68:00after having three daughters, to another girl. She's been a Big Sister since the girl was seven, and she is now seventeen. I said, "How much longer is this goes on?" She says, "Till she's eighteen. Then she's out of the program." So, you give back as much as you can. And I hope the next generation lives -- grows old and looks back at a good life, in good health, which brings a good life. And the world should have a little peace so that they can enjoy it. It's all I can say. 69:00And I leave my paintings to the next generation to do with what they want. (laughs) They can put it in the bathroom even.

[End of interview]