Herman’s timing was perfect. To this day when- ever our family gets together we still laugh our heads off remembering Uncle Michael, Tante Sania, and their big wonderful family. GIRLFRIENDS When I began attending Fitzsimon’s Junior High my world started to open up. I met girls there who were (at least so it seemed to me) more sophis- ticated than I was – and a little faster socially too. Some of us formed a small sorority of sorts that cost ten cents a week in dues. There were eleven of us and we would meet once a week and save our ten cent dues until we could afford lunch at a Chinese restaurant on Walnut Street, called the Cathay Tea Garden that cost $1.25. The other girls raved about how good the food was going to be. When we final- ly went to the Chinese restaurant all I had was plain white rice, bread, tea and ice cream. The food looked like something my mother fed to the dogs. It took me many years to acquire a taste for Chinese food. I was particularly friendly with two girls – Ann Drazen (5’3”) and Betty Luterman (5’9”). Don’t ask me how I remember their heights. They lived pretty far from my house and it seemed I was the one that always walked to their neighborhood.
family. He would buy canned goods without labels. You didn’t know what you were getting but you knew Uncle Michel got a good deal on it. He would also buy racks of clothes for his wife to select from. Years later we formed a Cousin’s Club; whole conversations were based on Uncle Michel stories.
We would all get hysterical no matter how many times they were repeated, and they were repeated every time we met. It was better than the best nightclub act. We got together once a month until cousins George and Claire moved to Detroit and it broke up. Herman and I once went to Bookbinder’s Restaurant for dinner. At
the time we already had two children and I said to him, “Herman, I have told you everything about myself but I forgot to tell you that I have an Uncle Michael who has a farm. Herman’s spontaneous response was, “Ee-eye-ee-eye-oh.” I fell off my chair laughing.
Dorothy Schluger (21) and friends at the beach
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