“My parents were very religious southern Jews from Charleston who settled in Miami in the late 1940s. Because of the excellent school system, they moved to Coral Gables, which was a cold and prejudiced community at the time.” Charles’ family, originally came from New York, moved to the Gables for the school system as well and the two met at Coral Gables High School. Both recall feeling like outsiders growing up as young Jewish children in Coral Gables. “Being comfortable was not part of our vocabulary. The community did little things that were annoying,” Roz said. “Religious holidays were not excused absences at the public school so during the High Holidays when we stayed home from school to go to services, we had to bring in notes from our parents saying we were sick.” One Passover, the police visited Charles’ family because a neighbor reported that the cars of their guests were illegally parked. Despite the fact that his family was involved in banking and local politics, the non-Jewish children were unkind. The schools celebrated Easter and Christmas and required students to recite the Lord’s Prayer and read portions from the New Testament daily after morning announcements. “In the sixties, more Jewish families moved to Coral Gables and there were a growing number of Jewish kids at Gables High. We were still discriminated against, but it was subtler. We could not join the social clubs, but we could join the language and science clubs and be part of the band and debate. So we were recognized in the honor societies; brought home Westinghouse Science Scholarships and Silver Knight Awards, bringing academic credit to Gables High,” Charles remembered. “The
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