Fannie Shkolnik
This is December 22, 2004 and we’re at 505 S. Parkview Avenue in Columbus,
Ohio. My name is Naomi Schottenstein and I’m interviewing my neighbor Fannie
Shkolnik who lives just down the hall from me. And Fannie, let’s start by
telling, I don’t really know you that well by the name Fannie. Tell us a
little bit about your name, who you were named after, your Yiddish name and so
forth.
Shkolnik: I was named after my mother’s mother, which was my grandmother.
We were all given Jewish names when we were born and I don’t think I had an
English name until somebody started me in school. So I’ve been called Fagel
all my life.
Interviewer: And that’s your Yiddish name?
Shkolnik: That’s my Yiddish name and Tziporah is my Hebrew name.
Interviewer: Oh that’s interesting.
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Do you know what Tziporah means?
Shkolnik: Bird.
Interviewer: Oh okay. And you have parlayed on that nickname or on that
Jewish name on the fact that bird is your symbol. Have you collected birds or
so, anything . . . .
Shkolnik: No I really haven’t. I remember one year my Dad sent me a ceramic
bird from Florida and my husband for my birthday one year gave me a gold pin
which was in the shape of a bird.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: I don’t really collect them.
Interviewer: So . . . . had a little bit of . . . .
Shkolnik: Yes.
Interviewer: relating to your name.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: What was your maiden name?
Shkolnik: Levy, L-E-V-Y.
Interviewer: L-E-V-Y?
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Do you know if that was the original family name?
Shkolnik: I don’t think so. It was some kind of a Russian name, Levitsky or
something like that.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And who changed it, do you know?
Shkolnik: I think when they came over at Ellis Island, they probably couldn’t
say Levitsky so they called them Levy. And then I had, before my Dad came to
this country, I had a great uncle that migrated to Circleville, Ohio, and he
chose the name Levy and there may be some connection there.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Did your father come to Columbus originally or where did
he come from and where did he end up?
Shkolnik: He came from Grodno in Poland and he came to Circleville, Ohio
because of my great uncle living there.
Interviewer: Uh huh. What brought them to Circleville? Do you have any idea?
Shkolnik: No really I don’t and I feel badly that I never talked, my Dad
talked a lot about his coming to America and living in Circleville but he never,
I don’t know why, I know why my father went to Circleville like I said because
of my great uncle.
Interviewer: What business was your great uncle in?
Shkolnik: I think something with junk, maybe.
Interviewer: Uh huh. He was a metal dealer.
Shkolnik: Yes at that point.
Interviewer: What was your uncle’s name?
Shkolnik: Jacob, Jacob Levy.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And did your father come by himself?
Shkolnik: Yes he married prior to coming to America and he didn’t have
enough money for my mother to come with him. He escaped because he didn’t want
to serve in the war there, the Japanese-Russian War, so he escaped and he left
my mother behind and he got a job in Circleville. He sold fruits and vegetables
and raised enough money and two years later he sent for her.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And she came to America.
Interviewer: By herself.
Shkolnik: By herself and it was hard to get out of the country at that time
and she said there were some Russians that were very nice to them and they hid
her in a wagon and put straw on top of her to hide her and took her to the
border and let her out at the border and she had to go find her ship and . . . .
Interviewer: Now she’s all on her own?
Shkolnik: On her own. She left her whole family behind. And she got sick on
the boat; she had typhoid. But when she got to America she was okay and my
father I guess met her at the boat. I don’t know. See that part I don’t
know. We just never talked about it.
Interviewer: I think they kind of wanted to forget about it.
Shkolnik: I don’t know. Steve used to talk to my Dad a lot and he heard, he
might have heard other things than I did about my Dad coming to this country.
Interviewer: Do you know what year it was that your father came and then your
mother?
Shkolnik: My father came in 1904 and my mother came in 1906.
Interviewer: And so things were pretty rough over there at that time?
Shkolnik: Yeah as far as being a Jew.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Especially for Jewish people.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: Now did any more of your father’s family, did any more of them
come to this country later?
Shkolnik: Yes he had a brother David that settled in Pittsburgh. He was the
only one.
Interviewer: The only one?
Shkolnik: Uh hum.
Interviewer: Were there other members of his family that he left behind?
Shkolnik: Yes, all of them. He had, I think it was six brothers and three
sisters. Interesting, the one sister, I don’t know how, became a widow and she
went to England and she had a son and, this is a long story.
Interviewer: Wait a minute. She wasn’t widowed before she had the son was
she?
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: No. She had a son and then her husband died. When I don’t know
that part of the story. And they, this whole group, a lot of people that settled
in Circleville all came from kind of the same shtetl which was Covny
Gubernia and they had a club when they were in America and one day . . . .
Interviewer: Kind of a lantsman club.
Shkolnik: Yeah. Stopet Kinners they were called. They were all from Stopet
Kin which was, I don’t know, maybe a suburb of Covny Gubernia or Grodno.
That part, you know, I’m not aware of.
Interviewer: Did anybody in your family ever find it on the map?
Shkolnik: I don’t think so. No, I don’t think they looked it up.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: And so every year they have a convention. They all meet in New York
and one particular year my Dad and Mother didn’t go. And so we got a call from
a friend here in town, said that they’re in the Stopet Kin paper, somebody is
looking for a uncle in the United States named Schmerl Levy. And it
turned out that he was a nephew of my Dad; he was living in Israel. And my Dad
immediately got in touch with him and that Summer he came to the United States.
He was married and had several children.
Interviewer: Now he was the son of your . . . .
Shkolnik: Of the aunt.
Interviewer: your father’s sister who went to England?
Shkolnik: Yeah, right. How he got to England I don’t know. We’re still
in, he died this nephew but he still had a widow and two children who we visit
occasionally in Israel. They have been to the United States.
Interviewer: So tell me their names. Tell me who some of your cousins’
names are.
Shkolnik: Okay. His name was Zalman Ovny and his children were Chasida
and Menachem Ovny.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And as far as you know they’re still . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah we’re in touch see, where Chasida’s sons, both
sons, are living in the United States and the one son got married last Summer
and we were invited to the wedding but I don’t know what came up, we couldn’t
go. So but we’re still in touch with them.
Interviewer: Well it’s interesting that you do have that kind of . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
Interviewer: . . . . family.
Shkolnik: Yes.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And what about your mother’s family?
Shkolnik: My mother had a sister and brother. Brother got to the United
States. He settled in New York.
Interviewer: What was your brother, what was her brother’s . . . .
Shkolnik: Abraham Finkelstein.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: And her sister was also a widow and she had one son and I remember
this, she wrote a letter and sent a picture of herself and her son and was
asking that they had to get out of there. Things were bad in Poland.
Interviewer: Do you have any idea of the time?
Shkolnik: Probably before the second World War, maybe ’33, ’32.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: 1933 or 1932. And so my parents contacted an attorney in New York
that was known for helping to bring these people over and so my Dad gave him
money to have her come. We never heard from her again.
Interviewer: You don’t know if she even . . . .
Shkolnik: No, probably not. No, probably not. I’m sure they would have been
in touch with my parents.
Interviewer: So very likely they were exterminated or . . . .
Shkolnik: Absolutely. A lot of my father’s family was exterminated.
Interviewer: Hmmm. So there really wasn’t any, there weren’t any
survivors as far as you know on your mother’s side of the family?
Shkolnik: Just my uncle, yeah. I knew my uncle from New York.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And he died many years ago.
Interviewer: What about his family?
Shkolnik: His family, yes. There’s grandchildren that I think they go to
Florida and I’ve met them in Florida.
Interviewer: There’s still a need to try to keep in touch with family, as
far away as it seems to go.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: Not geographically but in terms of time and space in the world.
But there’s still that need. It’s still family.
Shkolnik: Absolutely.
Interviewer: Bringing up from Circleville, who was born in Circleville in
your family?
Shkolnik: My oldest brother Mendel and my sister, Lena.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Oh and my brother Simon. No Lena was about, Simon, I had a brother
that died when I was just a year old. He was 12 so I really didn’t know him.
And that was Simon and my brother Mendel, were the two born in
Circleville and then they moved to Columbus and my sister Elaine after that.
Interviewer: What made your parents move from Circleville to Columbus?
Shkolnik: The fact that they were very observant Jews. It was very difficult
living in a small town like Circleville and so that’s why they wanted to come
to Columbus which was a larger city and they wanted education for my brother,
you know.
Interviewer: Did your father and mother talk very much about how Jewish life
was in Circle- ville?
Shkolnik: They enjoyed it. There were a lot, you know the Topoloskys . . . .
Interviewer: Which was a large family.
Shkolnik: the Gordons. There were a lot of large families. I’m trying to
think.
Interviewer: Was there a synagogue there?
Shkolnik: They had it in their house I think.
Interviewer: So they found a way?
Shkolnik: Oh they found a way, yeah. And my father used to, we used to call
him the traveling, he was a traveling salesman. He’d put, he was a peddler and
when he’d come to Columbus which took at least almost a day on a horse and
buggy, and he’d buy Jewish meat. He’d get kosher meat and take it back to
Circleville.
Interviewer: For other families as well as his?
Shkolnik: That I don’t know. But I’m sure the Topoloskys were like that
so I’m sure they made . . . .
Interviewer: They helped each other?
Shkolnik: Yeah, yeah. They’ve remained friends all these, even when they
all moved to Columbus.
Interviewer: So they were lantsmen in another way?
Shkolnik: Right. Well they all were from the same city that my Dad was in
Russia.
Interviewer: They were all from the same community?
Shkolnik: Yeah, yeah.
Interviewer: Well that’s interesting.
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: But your family continued to be observant?
Shkolnik: Very much.
Interviewer: You kept kosher and did everything they had to do as a good Jew?
Shkolnik: Absolutely. And they never, never turned a light on in our house
when we were growing up. The fire was always on the stove on Friday night and
the cholent was in the oven.
Interviewer: Cholent every week?
Shkolnik: Cholent in the winter, only in the winter, when we came home
from synagogue that’s what we had for lunch on Saturday.
Interviewer: Do you still like cholent?
Shkolnik: Haven’t ever made it or, I never liked it then, so . . . .
Interviewer: It wasn’t comfort food to you?
Shkolnik: Not to me, no.
Interviewer: What did your father do when he went to Circleville?
Shkolnik: He worked with my Uncle Jake. I think my Uncle Jake came to
Columbus and he had a junk shop, we called it. Metal. And my Dad went to work
for him.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Did Jake live in Circleville, too?
Shkolnik: Yes that’s how my Dad got here.
Interviewer: So he came to Columbus and reestablished here.
Shkolnik: Right, uh huh.
Interviewer: Where did your parents first live? Do you know what the first
house was that they lived in?
Shkolnik: No. The only house that I remember them talking about probably was
around the store. They owned a home on Stanley Avenue.
Interviewer: Stanley Avenue?
Shkolnik: Yeah. And that’s where my brother died and I was born there
evidently because I was a year old when he died.
Interviewer: Where is Stanley Avenue? Do you have any idea?
Shkolnik: It’s off of Parsons. You know, Whittier and Parsons. Maybe a
street or two before Whittier.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So that was the very . . . .
Shkolnik: The house is still there incidentally on Stanley.
Interviewer: Oh is it?
Shkolnik: Uh huh. In fact we used to, my Dad remembered the house that he
lived in in Circleville and we used to drive and he showed us, I don’t
remember the street or anything. I remember the house, but that’s it.
Interviewer: There’s something exciting and interesting for that later
generations to go back and see where their grandparents and aunts and uncles and
parents lived.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: There’s something fascinating. I can appreciate that ’cause
my kids are like that.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: So that was the house that you were born in?
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Were you the first one born in Columbus or . . . .
Shkolnik: No, no. My sister Lena. My brother . . . .
Interviewer: Oh she was born in Columbus?
Shkolnik: My brother Saul.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: And my, then me, and then my sister Ethel and my brother Louis were
all born in Columbus. But I have to tell you this. You know, they all had Jewish
names and they started to school. And my Dad’s name in Columbus, or in
America, was Sam. And they all took the name Sam. They all started school with
the name Sam.
Interviewer: Sounds like the George Foreman story. All of his kids are George
Foreman.
Shkolnik: And my oldest brother we called Foot, Mendel. He said,
“You can’t all go to school with the name Sam.”
Interviewer: Do you know why they did that? What was that all about?
Shkolnik: They didn’t have an English name.
Interviewer: Oh okay.
Shkolnik: They just had Jewish names. And so they all, I don’t know how
they arrived at their names but they ended up with Saul, my brother Louis, he
was the youngest so he didn’t have that name Sam. Just my brother Simon and my
brother Saul and my brother Mendel kept my Dad’s name and ‘course in
Jewish you don’t do Sam, Jr.
Interviewer: Right.
Shkolnik: But he was Sam, Jr. but we never called him that. We all called him
Mendel.
Interviewer: That was his formal English name?
Shkolnik: That’s right. Sam Levy, Jr.
Interviewer: Oh gosh. That does not . . . .
Shkolnik: But you know it just matters on the Jewish names.
Interviewer: Uh huh. But how did your brother Mendel, was that the one
that became Foot?
Shkolnik: Yes.
Interviewer: How did the “Foot. . . .”
Shkolnik: Because he had big feet.
Interviewer: Just like that?
Shkolnik: Just like that.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: That’s as far as I know, you know.
Interviewer: Wow. I have big feet but I’m glad they didn’t name me Feet.
Shkolnik: And Pat.
Interviewer: How did Pat . . . .
Shkolnik: I don’t know how Pat got his name. And Butch, Butch, because
Butch worked with Mendelman the butcher so that we gave him the name Butch.
Interviewer: Well that figures.
Shkolnik: (laughs) Yeah.
Interviewer: Start at the beginning, your oldest brother and tell us about
each one’s family.
Shkolnik: My brother Foot was married and had two children, two boys.
Interviewer: Tell us their names.
Shkolnik: Oh Freddie and William Levy.
Interviewer: And what was your sister-in-law’s name?
Shkolnik: Her name was Libby.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And what happened to those kids?
Shkolnik: Freddie’s in California. We unfortunately don’t have much
contact with either one of them and I don’t know where William is.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: Bill.
Interviewer: Well that happens a lot.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay so that was his first . . . .
Shkolnik: That was his first wife, yes.
Interviewer: And then after . . . .
Shkolnik: He married Gloria Wasserstrom. She was a divorcee and she had two
adopted sons Herbie and Barrie.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And he passed away then when he was married to Gloria?
Shkolnik: Yes, yes, uh huh.
Interviewer: Do you have any idea what year that was?
Shkolnik: I’d say it’s probably 20 some years ago at least.
Interviewer: So it was in the . . . .
Shkolnik: 1970s I imagine.
Interviewer: Or early 80s.
Shkolnik: Late, no, yeah, I think so.
Interviewer: Okay, your next brother?
Shkolnik: Well the oldest one died, I told you, it was Simon.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: He was 12 when he died so . . . .
Interviewer: Do you know what he died of? Do you know what he died from?
Shkolnik: Cancer.
Interviewer: Cancer? And they said it was cancer?
Shkolnik: My mother told, that’s how I knew, she told me.
Interviewer: I just don’t remember in my growing up that we ever heard that
word.
Shkolnik: Heard the word. Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: Then was my sister Lena and she was married to Robert Friedman who
was a pharmacist. They had no children. And the next one was my brother Saul and
he was married to Shirley Smukler from Cleveland and he had two boys. He had a
son Allen who died at 22 and he has a son Michael who lives here.
Interviewer: Michael lives in Columbus?
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: And he’s married, Michael . . . .
Shkolnik: Married, has three children.
Interviewer: Uh huh. What are their names? Do you know what Michael’s kids’
names are? Maybe I’m digging too deep here.
Shkolnik: . . . .
Interviewer: Okay. All right. They’re in Columbus though?
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: All right. The next one.
Shkolnik: The next one is me. And I was married . . . .
Interviewer: Wait a minute. Let’s go back to Saul. He was married again. He
was married . . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah after Shirley died. He married a girl from Cleveland named
Margaret.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: I think her name was Feldman but I’m not sure.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: And then I came along.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: And I was married to Albert Shkolnik. We had four children.
Interviewer: Where was Albert from?
Shkolnik: He was born in Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. His mother was born in Chicago
and his father was born in Kiev. Carol Shkolnik, my ex-daughter-in-law did a
family background on that which I have at home. It was great.
Interviewer: She’s great at putting together family genealogy.
Shkolnik: Yes, very, very, very good. Yeah.
Interviewer: Well she’s computer-wise and . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: very into this.
Shkolnik: Smart lady.
Interviewer: Yes she is.
Shkolnik: Uh hum.
Interviewer: Tell us a little bit about Albert’s family.
Shkolnik: Albert, they had seven children and they moved, they lived in
Dayton and they moved to Columbus.
Interviewer: What were his parents’ names?
Shkolnik: You mean my mother-in-law?
Interviewer: Mother-in-law and father-in-law.
Shkolnik: Oh Ida and Ben Shkolnik.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And they had seven children. They had five boys, the first five
were boys and then they had two girls.
Interviewer: And tell us who they were.
Shkolnik: Okay. The oldest son was Harry then Albert and then Leon and then
Nelson, Joe, Betty and Rose. Leon was killed in the second World War. He was 22
years old.
Interviewer: Was she married?
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Great guy. And Harry and Joe both married sisters from Chicago.
Leon wasn’t married.
Interviewer: Did they have children?
Shkolnik: Yes Harry had two children, Jerry and Barbara. And we’re in touch
with them.
Interviewer: Where are they? What are their names, I mean last names?
Shkolnik: Barbara is Jacobson and Jerry Shkolnik.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Where do they live?
Shkolnik: They live in Chicago. Yeah, both live in Chicago. Their grandmother’s
still living, Nina, who was Harry’s widow.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Her name is Nina. And her sister who was married to my
brother-in-law Joe was named Blossom and she died, Blossom, also cancer. Joe
died of cancer. Rose died of cancer. So . . . .
Interviewer: Did they have children too?
Shkolnik: Okay I told you about, Betty had two sons, Jeff and Mike. Rosie had
three children. She had two boys and a girl, Larry, Barry and Barbara and let’s
see, who else is there? Oh Nelson, my brother-in-law Nelson. He’s still living
and he’s in Chicago, I mean in California, never had any children. And . . . .
Interviewer: What was his wife’s name?
Shkolnik: Um . . . .
Interviewer: You haven’t seen her for a long time?
Shkolnik: Yes I have. I talk to her all the time. Beatrice, Bea.
Interviewer: Bea?
Shkolnik: Bea. They had no children.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So that was really another large family.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: Large families were not unusual.
Shkolnik: No in those days, no.
Interviewer: Okay we’re still, now let’s get back to your family and then
we’ll go back to your life with Albert. So let’s finish with the Levys. We’re
at Faggy now.
Shkolnik: Fagele.
Interviewer: All right. And who’s the next one?
Shkolnik: Ethel.
Interviewer: She’s younger than you. Okay, go ahead.
Shkolnik: Okay. She was married to Hyman Goldberg. She had five children. She
had Billy who’s the Rabbi.
Interviewer: And lives here in Columbus.
Shkolnik: And lives in Columbus. They all live here.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And he’s married to, it’s a second marriage, to, I don’t
know.
Interviewer: Was it from the east?
Shkolnik: Yeah from New York.
Interviewer: Now who was his first wife?
Shkolnik: His first wife: Suzie Katz, Susan Katz. Had adopted son with her.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And they divorced. And then he was married to Linda, you know,
DeeDee’s sister Linda, what was her name?
Interviewer: Weinstein?
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And they had how many?
Shkolnik: They had two boys. They have a son Josh and Benjamin. Josh is in
med school and I think Benjamin is going into law school. Nice boys.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And then she had Gary who died of cancer also and he had two girls.
He had Mitzi and Kim.
Interviewer: What was his wife’s name? She’s still living.
Shkolnik: She’s still living. Margie.
Interviewer: Margie?
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And then?
Shkolnik: Okay. Then Sherrie. She’s not married and Joanie and Jan who are
twins.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Joanie was married to Bronowski, Raban. She had three children. She
has two boys and a girl. She has Shaun and oh . . . .
Interviewer: I know sometimes when you’re pressed . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah. That’s terrible.
Interviewer: That’s okay. We’ll come back. . . . . think about it and we’ll
come back to it.
Shkolnik: I’ll blurt it out.
Interviewer: Okay so she has, Joanie has three kids.
Shkolnik: Yeah and Jan was never married. They’re twins.
Interviewer: Okay. So where, that’s Ethel’s family.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: And next?
Shkolnik: Next is Sherrie.
Interviewer: No Ethel. We got Sherrie.
Shkolnik: Yeah right. I’m sorry.
Interviewer: The next sibling is . . . .
Shkolnik: Is my brother Butch, Louis. And he had three chilrren. He had two
boys and a girl. And he was married to Rosalie Robins or Raben. She was from
Cincinnati.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Rosalie. She had a daughter Susan and a son Bob and Jeffrey.
Interviewer: Is Susan married?
Shkolnik: No she was but she’s not. Bob’s not married. He’s divorced.
Mike is married, not Mike, Jeff’s married to Lisa. She’s from Youngstown,
Ohio, and he had three, four children. His oldest son is Zack and he had Carly
and he has, I don’t know, he’s got two girls. He’s got three girls and a
boy.
Interviewer: Yeah he’s got a nice family.
Shkolnik: Uh hum. They live down the street.
Interviewer: And Bob has a child too, doesn’t he?
Shkolnik: Yes. Yes, yep he does. What is his name?
Interviewer: He has a son probably in the 20s.
Shkolnik: Oh I bet he’s close to 30.
Interviewer: Yeah I’ve kind of lost track myself.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay so that pretty much covers your siblings and Albert’s. So
now tell us how you met Al.
Shkolnik: Well let’s see. I probably was around 19 I think and he had a
date with a Dayton girl and she was staying at our house. And Hy and Al, my
brother-in-law Hy and Al were real good friends and they were going out with him
and I was just reading in the living room and the next day I met him and I just
thought he was a young kid and I didn’t really pay any attention to him. And
my brother-n-law Hy called me the next day and he said, “Al, you know the
fellow you met last night?” And I said, “Yeah.” He said,
“Well he’d like a date with you.” And I said, “Oh really?”
Well tell him to call me. And he did and we had a date . . . .
Interviewer: And the rest is history?
Shkolnik: That’s right.
Interviewer: So from then on . . . .
Shkolnik: We went together for about two and a half years and he went to
school. He worked for Hart Manufacturing Company. He started when he was 15
years old. I failed to tell you that when he was like nine and his brother, his
oldest brother was ten, my father-in-law lost his leg and he couldn’t work for
a whole year and those two boys, nine and ten years old, took fruit and
vegetables in a wagon up and down the street and nobody helped them. Nobody came
to their help. And you remember Mrs. Sugarman from Schonthal Center.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: She wanted to put him in an orphanage and there were five kids at
that point.
Interviewer: She wanted to put them all in an orphanage?
Shkolnik: Yes, all the children. And of course they wouldn’t hold still
for that. So I don’t know who came to their help but maybe one of my, one of
Al’s uncles might have helped them a little bit and those boys all went to
work and every penny they made they brought it home.
Interviewer: So they supported . . . .
Shkolnik: And when I was engaged to Al, he was still giving his mother and
dad money. She’d give him an allowance.
Interviewer: Hmmm.
Shkolnik: That’s, you don’t hear of that too much.
Interviewer: That’s the difference in families. It wasn’t terribly
unusual.
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: I don’t think . . . . ten years old to support a family.
Shkolnik: Yeah, that, yeah, they were very wonderful to their parents. You
have to say that.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Sounds like they were resourceful with the . . . .
Shkolnik: Very much so.
Interviewer: with the . . . . they had . . . .
Shkolnik: They did, that’s right.
Interviewer: Was your father-in-law ever able to go . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah they had a market, they had a stand on market and when the
boys all went to service, Al was the only one didn’t have to go because before
the war, he had his number came up five and his brother’s number came up
seven. They each got a number within a week.
Interviewer: Tell us about the numbers. What is the significance . . . .
Shkolnik: That’s how you were called up. Your number. Five is a low number
so you knew you were going to be called quickly. Well there was a, you didn’t
have to, he didn’t have to go because he was married. If you were married or
had children, you were exempted.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And then my brother-in-law went and he was killed. And the other
three boys were called. They all went. They all went. And when we had two
children, I had Larry and Steve, Al was called up again. And do you remember
when . . . .
Interviewer: What was the period of time?
Shkolnik: It was probably int he 1930s, 1940s.
Interviewer: The war was . . . .
Shkolnik: The war was on, yes, full force. And you remember the Sullivan
boys, the five of them that were in the Navy? That’s how Al got out of it
because he was the fifth brother that would be called.
Interviewer: Well that’s interesting.
Shkolnik: Yeah. And he was, he got out of it. And I thought, “Oh my God,
what am I going to do?” Anyhow . . . .
Interviewer: Now was he, he was in Columbus by then?
Shkolnik: Yes he worked at Hart Manufacturing Company. Before we were
married, Mr. Goldsmith owned Hart and Al started with him. There were only three
people in that factory at that time.
Interviewer: What did they . . . .
Shkolnik: Manufactured uniforms, industry, and he, they sent him to school in
New Jersey to learn how to make patterns.
Interviewer: Oh.
Shkolnik: And he designed the Eisenhower jacket for industry. The firemen,
you know they wear the . . . .
Interviewer: . . . . jackets?
Shkolnik: and he designed that. He never got any credit for it.
Interviewer: Al designed it?
Shkolnik: Yes he did. He designed it for industry here.
Interviewer: He didn’t have formal training, he just . . . .
Shkolnik: He went to university, yeah. Oh yeah, he went to, yeah he went to
and Mr. Goldsmith sent him there, sent him to university in New Jersey and he paid him
the salary, he paid for his keep there.
Interviewer: The whole time he was in the . . . .
Shkolnik: The whole time he was there.
Interviewer: How many years was it?
Shkolnik: Not long, not long. Maybe six months, that’s all in this special
school.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And there was a man that had a big manufacturing company and he
wanted Al as a protégé. He was going to teach him the business and everything.
And I remember, I have the letter Al sent me and he said he didn’t know what
to do. He said it was a wonderful opportunity for him but he said Mr. Goldsmith
has been so good to me, I don’t think I could do that. What do you think? And
so I wrote back and I said I think his thoughts were the right thing to do, to
stay.
Interviewer: So he was committed to . . . .
Shkolnik: That’s right.
Interviewer: What was Mr. Goldsmith’s first name?
Shkolnik: Leon.
Interviewer: Uh huh. He was very well known.
Shkolnik: And so, yeah, right, Al ended up as a supervisor of the whole
factory and then he died, Mr. Goldsmith, and his son took over the business. I
don’t want to talk about it.
Interviewer: Okay. What was his son’s name?
Shkolnik: Charlie, Charles Goldsmith.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: He was very prominent with the United Jewish Fund and . . . .
Interviewer: How long then did Al stay with that company.
Shkolnik: Hart? 21 years. And he saw the handwriting on the wall and Hy had
gone into the muffler business and he said to Al, “You know, there’s a
place for you ’cause it’s just new, you know, just starting out.” My
brothers were in the auto parts business so I remember he loaned $500 from my
father, Al, and he opened up a Muffler King . . . .
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And . . . .
Interviewer: And made a success of that?
Shkolnik: Yeah, uh huh.
Interviewer: So you were, you went together for over two years?
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: And what year were you married?
Shkolnik: 1940.
Interviewer: Did you have a big wedding?
Shkolnik: Yeah. My dad was President of Agudas Achim at the time and you
know, we had to invite the whole congregation. I got married at home, had a
small wedding at home and we had the reception in the shul.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Where was the shul at that time.
Shkolnik: On Washington and Donaldson. Right on the corner there. I went to shul
there every Saturday of my life since the time I could almost walk.
Interviewer: And you’re still there?
Shkolnik: Uh hum.
Interviewer: But it’s at a better location?
Shkolnik: Yeah, much different.
Interviewer: Did they move from Donaldson to . . . .
Shkolnik: Broad Street.
Interviewer: Broad and Roosevelt?
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Who was the rabbi that you remember as a youngster?
Shkolnik: Hirshsprung. Rabbi Hirshsprung.
Interviewer: Yeah he was very well known.
Shkolnik: Oh yeah, he was a brilliant man. My parents were very, they were
very upset when they asked him to leave. But rightfully so. They needed to bring
in the young people. You know things, everybody was getting modern, going to
Conservative and Reform. We were losing them.
Interviewer: Sounds like history being repeated.
Shkolnik: Yes once again.
Interviewer: But your father continued to be involved in Agudas Achim?
Shkolnik: Oh absolutely, absolutely, until he couldn’t.
Interviewer: So you had the wedding. And where did you and Al first live?
Shkolnik: 415 Rhoads Avenue.
Interviewer: Was that Driving Park?
Shkolnik: No Rhoads Avenue out near, off of Main Street. Near Nelson Road.
Interviewer: Oh yeah. Oh okay.
Shkolnik: It was right near, we were not far from Franklin Park.
Interviewer: Well that was a pretty classy neighborhood.
Shkolnik: Oh yeah. I remember, everybody was going to the apartments out in
Driving Park. And there was, it was very difficult to get an apartment like, you
know, before the war. And so there was an apartment that became available and we
both went there and everybody sitting outside, you know. And I said, “Uh
uh, Al. This is not for me.”
Interviewer: Too much togetherness, huh?
Shkolnik: Uh hum. And so we found this one on Rhoads Avenue and . . . .
Interviewer: Is that where your first child was born?
Shkolnik: That’s where Larry was born, uh hum.
Interviewer: What year was that?
Shkolnik: 1940.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: Nine months and a day after I was married I had a baby.
Interviewer: Oh good.
Shkolnik: I’m glad I got that day in.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: Well we got the record.
Shkolnik: Yeah, right.
Interviewer: Tell us about Larry’s family.
Shkolnik: Larry has three children. He has a daughter. Jamie is the oldest
and she has her Ph. D. in Economics. Andrew is a starving artist and he lives in
Arizona or Hawaii.
Interviewer: Are either of these kids married?
Shkolnik: Jamie is.
Interviewer: Jamie.
Shkolnik: She’s been married two years. And she married a, also, he has his
doctorate in Engineering. Andrew, he’s not married and he is a starving artist
like I said and he lives in Hawaii with his mother. He doesn’t live with her
but he lives in Hawaii. He loves it. And Jonathan is in Arizona, Flagstaff, and
he’s a, he has a company that takes you down into the Grand Canyon.
Interviewer: Oh.
Shkolnik: Done very well with it. And he took Bill O’Reilly not too long
ago and he talked about him on his program.
Interviewer: Oh that’s . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah we all had to listen in.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So that was on TV?
Shkolnik: Yes.
Interviewer: Not too long ago?
Shkolnik: Not too long ago.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Did he ever take you to the Grand Canyon?
Shkolnik: Not me but I was there. That was before he, we went down in a
helicopter.
Interviewer: Oh.
Shkolnik: Yeah but I would never, listen, I have a terrible fear of heights
but Anna Lynn and Rickey and her two kids went and he took them on the worst
trail that you could have.
Interviewer: And they loved it?
Shkolnik: Uh huh. Oh they go back. Larry’s been on it and Jamie’s been,
all the kids have been on it.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Well it is pretty exciting if you can physically handle
it. Okay so Larry is, tell us about his first wife.
Shkolnik: Mickey, he was married to Michelle Landau, a lovely lady.
Interviewer: And now he’s married to . . . .
Shkolnik: Now he’s married to Jackie Harmon, she was.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And did Kathy have children?
Shkolnik: No she never was married.
Interviewer: She never was married, okay. All right, let’s go to your next
child.
Shkolnik: My next child was Steven and he was married to Carol Gurvitz and
they had two adopted boys, Todd and Josh. Josh is married and has a son Sammy.
Sammy Albert and Steve married Bobbie Saidleman and they have a child together,
Jessie.
Interviewer: And how old is Jessie now?
Shkolnik: Jessie’s 17 going to graduate this June.
Interviewer: Yeah he’s a nice kid.
Shkolnik: Uh hum.
Interviewer: Okay let’s go back to Larry. What is Larry’s business? What
does he do?
Shkolnik: Auto parts. He was with Nationwide for a lot, lot of years.
Interviewer: So he’s still in auto parts?
Shkolnik: Yeah he has a warehouse in Marion, Ohio and he has two outlet
stores, just kind of semi-retired, takes it easy.
Interviewer: That’s okay. It’s about time, huh?
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: And Steve, what does he do?
Shkolnik: Steve’s in real estate and . . . .
Interviewer: Commercial real estate?
Shkolnik: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: He’s very active in the community too, isn’t he?
Shkolnik: Yeah, he, yeah. He always was from the time he was a youngster, he
was always, yeah. I guess. Yeah.
Interviewer: Do you know what some of the activities are that he, I know he
was being honored at the Agudas Achim.
Shkolnik: Yeah at the Agudas Achim. Yeah he was, he did a lot of work with
the heart I remember.
Interviewer: Heart Association?
Shkolnik: Yeah, uh huh. He was very, always active in the shul, the
synagogue.
Interviewer: Yeah. I think he loves his attachment to the . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah he does.
Interviewer: I think that’s from his mother’s heart feelings.
Shkolnik: Could be and you know he was very devoted to his Grandpa, Grandpa
Levy who was always active in the synagogue. You know my Dad was president and
he was always, we always had shul business in our house. I knew all about
shul business.
Interviewer: Your brothers were involved too.
Shkolnik: My brothers, Saul, yeah he was President of Agudas Achim too at one
time. Steve was President of Agudas Achim also. He was active in the
Brotherhood. He was very active in the Brotherhood, Steve.
Interviewer: It’s a great legacy to . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah I’m proud of it.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. And your next child?
Shkolnik: Was Ron.
Interviewer: Okay, tell us about Ron’s family.
Shkolnik: Okay, Ron has three daughter, two daughters and a son. He’s got
Lonnie who’s getting married this year who is . . . .
Interviewer: Year 2005?
Shkolnik: Yeah. Oh that’s right, next year, and she’s with Paine Webber
in New York. Melanie is his second child who is a, in Chicago and she teaches
emotionally- disturbed and Kevin just graduated high school. He’s at the
University of Michigan, very bright guy.
Interviewer: Even though he goes to Michigan, he’s okay?
Shkolnik: I know. Don’t worry, he has to live with that.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Shkolnik: He graduated, he was the main speaker at his graduating class.
Interviewer: Bexley?
Shkolnik: Yeah, valedictorian. Uh huh. And very bright. He made summa cum
laude . . . .
Interviewer: That’s not bad either.
Shkolnik: No it’s very, real down-to-earth kid. He really is.
Interviewer: I now all your kids have terrific, your children have terrific
personalities and they’re very involved in community things and I know you
have a lot of pride in that. And then, now, we get to Anna Lynn. Am I right?
Shkolnik: Okay.
Interviewer: Okay. So I’m going to stop here for a second and turn the tape
over. We’re ending Side I of Tape A and we will stop and turn this over. Okay
now we’re on the second side of Tape l and we’re going to talk about Anna
Lynn.
Shkolnik: Anna Lynn is married to Richard Baron. She has two children. She
has a son Adam and a daughter, Alicia.
Interviewer: Where is Richard from?
Shkolnik: Richard’s from New York. She met him at a camp in the Pocono
Mountains when she was a counselor and he was a counselor.
Interviewer: A Jewish leadership camp probably.
Shkolnik: Yeah. It was through B’nai B’rith that she got that job.
Anyhow.
Interviewer: And her children, where are they?
Shkolnik: Adam is in Pittsburgh. He’s with the Jewish Center. He’s a
Director of Program- ming and the camp program. Alicia’s still in school. She’s
at the University of Cincinnati and she graduates this June. She’s in
Communications and what she’s really interested in is animals and she’s
hoping to be able to go to Israel and join that pilot program where they train
dogs to help handicapped people.
Interviewer: Oh I just went to a presentation at the Jewish War Veterans . .
. .
Shkolnik: Really?
Interviewer: and that program was called “Pups for Peace.”
Shkolnik: Oh.
Interviewer: And it was an interesting thing. We’ll talk about it after the
tape but it’s kind of interesting that . . . .
Shkolnik: She’s interested.
Interviewer: she’s interested in that?
Shkolnik: Interested in an—. She goes to school and three or four days a
week, she works on a pet farm where people leave their dogs and she . . . .
Interviewer: And board them there? You mean board them?
Shkolnik: No they don’t stay overnight. Now she’ll take, some of them
want her to keep them overnight and she’ll take them to her apartment. She
lives by herself and she gets $25 a dog for keeping them overnight.
Interviewer: Oh my.
Shkolnik: She loves dogs and animals.
Interviewer: Did they have dogs when they were little at home?
Shkolnik: Yeah they always had a dog. The dog, one of the dogs died and oh my
God, they buried it in the back yard and planted a tree over it.
Interviewer: Did your kids have dogs or animals when they were growing up?
Shkolnik: Anna Lynn you know, her dad would give her the moon if she said,
you know, she wanted it. And so he let her have a dog and he used to bite her
and tear her dresses and when I saw that happening, I said, you know, “You
can’t have it, I mean he’s not the right kind of dog for you.” So we
gave it to somebody who had a very large yard and I was not, I, my father put
the scare into us about dogs. He was once attacked by a dog and we’d walk down
the street with him and there’d be a dog. He would, I mean, he would get so
nervous and he would grab us and he’d scare, you know, we’d we scared of
dogs.
Interviewer: Well he had that fright . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah it was a terrible experience. Yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah, and you don’t forget that.
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: In that situation.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: Tell us about, I know Faye from knowing you for a long time that
your family has a lot of closeness and that you get together for holidays and so
forth. Tell us how all this works.
Shkolnik: Well in the beginning when there just were a few grandchildren,
well every Friday night I had the kids over. But I would take two couples at a
time. And on the holidays we would all get together at my house. And then as the
years went on, the kids kept saying, “You know, it’s our turn now,”
and I thought, “I’m not going to give that up, you know, that’s my
thing.” And so my husband said, “You know, it’s really true. It’s
very hard and Passover was very hard. Even though they helped it still, you have
most of the work to do.” And so anyhow, I still had it even after Al died and
then, you know, I realized that it was getting too much and so each one takes a
different Jewish holiday. I go to their houses every Friday night. They always
see to it that somebody takes me, you know, to their house.
Interviewer: It rotates whatever is going on . . . .
Shkolnik: Whatever, yes.
Interviewer: in their family?
Shkolnik: Yes. Right. And.
Interviewer: What do your grandchildren call you?
Shkolnik: Grandma.
Interviewer: Grandma?
Shkolnik: Sammy, my great grandson, calls me Great Grandma. Great Grandma Fagel.
Interviewer: Okay. That’s . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah. But all the rest of them call me Grandma.
Interviewer: What did they call Al?
Shkolnik: They called him Grandpa. Ronnie when she was little called him Al.
She always wanted to call him Al.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: “Al come here.”
Interviewer: Something close about that I guess.
Shkolnik: Yeah, yeah.
Interviewer: If you could call him Al I guess she could, huh?
Shkolnik: Right. And like I said, each one takes a holiday. Steve always
takes Passover and everybody pitches in. Lori takes both days of, in fact they
wanted to split it up, the Passover, and Bobbie says, “That’s ridiculous.
You know you’re here and it’s all set up. Might as well just, you know, come
the next day.”
Interviewer: Passover is a lot of setting up.
Shkolnik: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: Getting tables ready.
Shkolnik: Exactly. And Lori and Ronnie take Rosh Hashonah. Kathy takes Break
the Fast and Anna Lynn takes, what does Anna Lynn take? She takes something.
Interviewer: What holiday are we missing?
Shkolnik: What did I leave out?
Interviewer: Yom Kippur, Passover, Hanukkah.
Shkolnik: Oh she takes, yes, Anna Lynn takes Hanukkah. We had our Hanukkah
party at her house.
Interviewer: So she fixes the latkes.
Shkolnik: Yeah and she also takes Mother’s Day.
Interviewer: Oh okay.
Shkolnik: And Lori and Ronnie take Father’s Day. And . . . .
Interviewer: So whenever you can you’re together.
Shkolnik: Yes, yeah. And we always have such a fun time together too. On Rosh
Hashonah Ronnie said, you know we went every . . . . like 4 o’clock, you know,
four or 4:30, we were going home and get undressed and relax and Ronnie says,
“I want everybody back here at 7:30.” So we all went back to his
house and he brought out all this wine. Well I’m telling you they got, they,
we just had, it was hysterical. We just had the best time.
Interviewer: Just lit them up huh?
Shkolnik: Oh.
Interviewer: Well we ought to record one of those events . . . . talk about
their childhood and about their lives.
Shkolnik: Yeah. Ronnie, when Ronnie has a couple drinks in him, oh wow.
Interviewer: I don’t know if you told us what Ronnie does, Ronnie’s
business.
Shkolnik: Ronnie was with SOS for many, many years. Well he was in the
business at first.
Interviewer: Tell us what kind of business that is.
Shkolnik: Which?
Interviewer: SOS.
Shkolnik: It was advertising on television.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: He was with Jeff for a long time.
Interviewer: Jeff Shiman?
Shkolnik: Yeah, Jeff Shiman. And there, he has just gone into a small, Ronnie
got out of that and he’s with Larry Ruben now, Ronnie.
Interviewer: In . . . .
Shkolnik: Plaza Properties.
Interviewer: Uh huh. In what capacity?
Shkolnik: I don’t know.
Interviewer: Promotion? Marketing? . . . .
Shkolnik: Maybe Public Relations.
Interviewer: That sounds like it would be his . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah good field.
Interviewer: Okay and.
Shkolnik: And Anna Lynn teaches at the Jewish Day School. She taught at the
Jewish Center Pre School for 21 years and she was honored. She was chosen one
year as the “Teacher of the Year.” She loves her job.
Interviewer: And I know the kids love Anna Lynn. And the parents would like
for her to be their teacher, their kids’ teacher.
Shkolnik: Yeah she had that problem at the Jewish Center. They had to cut it
out. They would call up and say they wanted Anna Lynn. Everybody wanted Anna
Lynn so they had to put a stop to it and you had to take who you got.
Interviewer: Well it sounds like her son pretty much takes after her.
Shkolnik: Yeah he does. He does, uh hum.
Interviewer: What does Richard do?
Shkolnik: He’s with Odd Lots.
Interviewer: Oh okay.
Shkolnik: Yeah he’s in the office.
Interviewer: Okay that pretty much covers them. You told us that you lived on
Rhoads you and Al when you were first married. And where did you live after
that?
Shkolnik: After that, it was during the war. It was difficult to get an
apartment and we only had one bedroom and we had a child and so we got a double
on Oak Street near the park.
Interviewer: Topiary Park?
Shkolnik: Where? Franklin, Franklin, yeah. And we lived there for about, I
don’t know, maybe four years and my dad bought a double on Berkeley Road and I
had one side and my sister had the other. We both lived there. And then we came
to Bexley.
Interviewer: Which sister was that?
Shkolnik: Betty, Pickel.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And then after that where did you live?
Shkolnik: On Stanwood and then from Stanwood, we . . . .
Interviewer: What address on Stanwood?
Shkolnik: 202 N. Stanwood. And the kids went to, Anna Lynn was just two years
old when we moved there. And Ronnie went to Maryland and the others went to
Cassing- ham.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And then we moved to Sherwood Road. And then we moved to Parkview.
We lived at Sherwood about 37 years.
Interviewer: Wow. I didn’t realize you had been there that long.
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: So you kids all went to school in Bexley schools.
Shkolnik: Uh huh. Larry and Steve started out at Columbus.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So tell us what your activities include, besides your
family, during this retirement, these retirement years.
Shkolnik: Retirement years, I have slowed down.
Interviewer: I know you’re not retired.
Shkolnik: I taught the Russians during my retirement years and then I
started, when Anna Lynn went off to school and nobody was home, it was empty
nesters, you know, and I decided, I was so blue for about two days, less than
two days.
Interviewer: Two whole days? Okay.
Shkolnik: And I don’t know how I got involved with the Heritage House.
Eleanore Yenkin was President and it was fun. It was such fun.
Interviewer: What did you do?
Shkolnik: I was in the Gift Shop; Sylvia Schecter and Charlotte Kahn started
the Gift Shop and my day was Monday because I was active in the synagogue,
Sisterhood. So we had meetings on, that was the only day I had that there was
nothing going on. So I’ve been there ever since and then after Al died, I
decided to play cards with the residents and I do that every Thursday. I go and
play Canasta with four of them, three of them.
Interviewer: Oh so you spend the afternoon . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah. And then we have Happy Hour where we serve drinks, soft
drinks. One of the guys gets beer and potato chips and that kind of thing.
Interviewer: But no cocktails?
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: Martinis, anything like that?
Shkolnik: No nothing like that.
Interviewer: That would interfere with . . . .
Shkolnik: Right, yeah.
Interviewer: Okay. Now flipping back. I know you, through the years, have
been real involved in a lot of classes that the Sisterhood had.
Shkolnik: Always.
Interviewer: Tell us about some of those activities.
Shkolnik: Well I was very active in the Bible Classes. I was the Chairman for
15 years with Dorothy Rubenstein who everybody loved and who we learned from.
Interviewer: Rabbi Rubenstein was . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah and learned a lot from her. We had meetings twice a week.
Twice a week she would study with us and had at least 30 to 35 people.
Interviewer: Wow.
Shkolnik: And we had it in the homes and I never had a problem. I was in
charge of getting hostesses. Never had a problem. If I’d ask somebody if they
could have it, no problem. And at the end of the year I would have the big one
and I would serve lunch after we studied.
Interviewer: Uh huh. It says a lot for Dorothy’s leadership.
Shkolnik: Oh was no question. No question. She was, she was marvelous. I
learned more from her and my father. When my mother died, my dad, you know,
continued going to shul and I used to go with him and I’d sit next to
him and I learned you know, the Sedras. He would tell me about them. I’ve
forgotten a lot because he’s been gone a long time but I still, I miss the
classes. I always feel that somebody in our synagogue should take over for that.
Interviewer: What about Kollel? Do you ever go to Kollel?
Shkolnik: I have very rarely. I went a couple of times with Anna Lynn and I
went with you one time. Remember we did that Kaballah Class?
Interviewer: Yeah that was a long time ago.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: We could use some more classes, that’s for sure.
Shkolnik: Even when I had young children and I always had somebody in the
house to, I’d go when they were napping and I would do volunteer work at the
Nightingale Cottage. I would go to the Cerebral Palsy Clinic. We had a group at
Cerebral Palsy because, you know, my sister had, you know, Sherrie, cerebral
palsy. And we became very active in that and we’d go to the clinic and help
you know, either write letters or just talk to them at the clinic. I also was
active in with Fannie Levy. I used to go to the, you know, on West Broad, we
used to, from Council.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Was it the Institution?
Shkolnik: Yes where young . . . .
Interviewer: Mentally handicapped.
Shkolnik: Yeah, mentally handicapped. And I used to go with her on Tuesday
and if we didn’t come, people from Council didn’t come, they didn’t have,
you know, there was nobody there to help these children. And they would just
crawl around on the floors with . . . .
Interviewer: You’re talking about activities . . . . social. They’re
really . . . .
Shkolnik: Popular.
Interviewer: Hands and guts kind of activities.
Shkolnik: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Interviewer: So you weren’t concerned about . . . . You did what you had to
do.
Shkolnik: That’s right. And enjoyed helping them.
Interviewer: Well you had to be a role model to your children, that’s for
sure, when they saw all the things that you did.
Shkolnik: I don’t know.
Interviewer: You didn’t even think about it.
Shkolnik: I didn’t. I really didn’t.
Interviewer: Yeah. Was your mother active in the community?
Shkolnik: Yes, yes. My mother was active in Sisterhood, Ivreeoh Society,
Ezras Noshim.
Interviewer: What were those societies?
Shkolnik: Ivreeoh was from the Hebrew School, Columbus Hebrew School. It was
a part of their program. I guess they raised money for the Hebrew School, the
Ivreeoh Society. She was active in the Sisterhood. She was Ezras Noshim. That
was a society that helped people that needed financial help. She was part of
that. My father was too. My father was also active in the community.
Interviewer: If I remember that that organization helped people but in a
quiet way.
Shkolnik: Yes, you didn’t know who it was. You knew nothing about the
people.
Interviewer: Right. But they were there and . . . .
Shkolnik: Yes, yeah.
Interviewer: helped get people back on their feet.
Shkolnik: That’s right.
Interviewer: They went through hard times.
Shkolnik: And also there were a lot of people that would come through here
that didn’t have a place to go and they had a, they housed them, these people.
I remember in our house on Saturday after shul, Cantor Gellman used to
come over for Kiddush.
Interviewer: To your house?
Shkolnik: To our house, yeah, yeah.
Interviewer: It sounds like your house was a lot of fun.
Shkolnik: It was. We did, we had a lot of fun.
Interviewer: Your brothers . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah, were real comedians.
Interviewer: the, I remember some of them and how they, their personalities
really stood out.
Shkolnik: My brother Butch especially.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Shkolnik: He had a . . . .
Interviewer: A funny person.
Shkolnik: Yeah and he did, he did a lot for you know quietly, also.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: And my mother believed in quietly too. And my father.
Interviewer: Yeah . . . .
Shkolnik: You didn’t have to talk about it.
Interviewer: That’s the Jewish way.
Shkolnik: Yeah. With a lot of people, with a lot of people.
Interviewer: Real . . . . People, some of them still want their names
anonymous.
Shkolnik: Anonymous.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous.
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: Tell us about some of the activities that you as children, that
you and your family, your brothers, let’s start ‘way back when you were
little. Where did you go for fun? Where did you, did you go to Schonthal Center?
Shkolnik: Yeah we went to the movies.
Interviewer: What theaters did you go to? Do you remember how much theaters,
movies cost?
Shkolnik: Ten cents.
Interviewer: Ten cents?
Shkolnik: We went to the Livingston on, oh, you know where Margulies’
Furniture Store used to be on Livingston?
Interviewer: On Mohawk?
Shkolnik: Yeah. Okay it was near there the Livingston Theater and it was
owned by a Jewish man, can’t think of his name. And then when we moved to 18th
Street, I was probably about 11 when we moved there, there was the Champion
Theater on Main Street. We used to walk over. We walked everywhere. On
Saturdays, you know we never rode on Saturday and when I came, we came home from
shul, I would walk to the Library.
Interviewer: Which library?
Shkolnik: The Columbus Public Library. That was the only one that there was
at that time.
Interviewer: There was the only . . . .
Shkolnik: You didn’t have any neighborhood . . . .
Interviewer: No neighborhood libraries?
Shkolnik: Huh uh, uh uh.
Interviewer: So you walked. That was probably a couple miles there and a
couple of miles back?
Shkolnik: Oh yeah.
Interviewer: And you didn’t think anything of it?
Shkolnik: You walked everywhere in those days. We always had a car but my
father didn’t drive on Saturday and well, you know, a lot of times if we were
going to school and he was going to work, he would drop us off at school. And
went to Roose- velt.
Interviewer: Yeah I wanted to ask you what school you went to.
Shkolnik: I went to Roosevelt.
Interviewer: Roosevelt was Junior High?
Shkolnik: Yeah Roosevelt was Junior High.
Interviewer: What was the elementary?
Shkolnik: The elementary was Livingston Avenue. When I moved to, we lived on
Ann Street, I went to Livingston and when we moved to 18th, I went to Roosevelt
when, yeah, Livingston was when I – Ann.
Interviewer: What high school?
Shkolnik: South High.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Shkolnik: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Did you ever go to South High School reunions?
Shkolnik: Uh huh. I went to 25th. Never went to the 50th. Yeah maybe I did.
Maybe we did.
Interviewer: Do you still go to them at all?
Shkolnik: No, huh uh.
Interviewer: Kind of lost that interest?
Shkolnik: Yeah . . . . gone. I don’t even . . . .
Interviewer: Well that’s what happens.
Shkolnik: Don’t know if I remember . . . .
Interviewer: . . . . live wire though to keep it going if you have one and .
. . .
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: then they still have reunions?
Shkolnik: Right.
Interviewer: . . . . got to do it.
Shkolnik: Yeah. Right. And that was not my forte.
Interviewer: Do you have family reunions? I’m not talking about your
children or . . . .
Shkolnik: No
Interviewer: No other family reunions?
Shkolnik: Huh uh.
Interviewer: So what were some of the things that you kids did, your brothers
and sisters and you for entertainment besides . . . . each other, or did you?
Shkolnik: First of all, me and my sister and my brother Butch were like my
other, were older than us, like my brother Pat was four years older than me. And
say I’m eight, he’s 12. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Interviewer: Sure.
Shkolnik: But most of our activities were at the Schonthal Center or in the
neighborhood with our friends in the neighborhood.
Interviewer: Who were some of your neighbors?
Shkolnik: Let’s see, where at?
Interviewer: On any of the neighborhoods.
Shkolnik: Okay. The Levinsteins and the Goodmans, Libby Goodman.
Interviewer: Who were the Levinsteins?
Shkolnik: Let’s see, who’s here in town? None of them. I don’t know
whether, they’ve been gone for a long time, the children, from this community.
Interviewer: But do you remember the names of . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah there was Rosalie. She lives in Dayton now. She was a twin
with her brother Arnold. And Sam and Dave and Celia. I think Celia and Rosalie
and Arnie are still living. They had a brother Sam who was an optometrist. And
then the Fleischmans. Shirley was married to Jack Sher. And the sister was
married to O’Koon, Charlie O’Koon. Remember that family?
Interviewer: I remember the name.
Shkolnik: And then the brother Morris, Pic Fleischman, remember him?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Shkolnik: Okay. He’s from that family.
Interviewer: Oh.
Shkolnik: And they lived right across the street from us.
Interviewer: I didn’t think they . . . .
Shkolnik: And the Cohens, you know Dorothy Topy? Dorothy, she lived across
the street. It was, our street, there was a lot of Jews on that street.
Interviewer: So you had your own little community?
Shkolnik: Yeah that’s what I said. We had friends, you know, all along the
street.
Interviewer: You played in the street too, didn’t you?
Shkolnik: Oh yes, yes.
Interviewer: What were some of the games that you played?
Shkolnik: What’s that game that you kick it?
Interviewer: Kick the can?
Shkolnik: Yeah did that.
Interviewer: Kick the can was kind of a . . . .
Shkolnik: We kicked the can from one corner to the other, I think.
Interviewer: And then somebody kicked it back.
Shkolnik: I was always, I played basketball. We’d go to the Jewish Center,
I mean the, you know, Schonthal Center and a lot of activities going on there.
Clubs, all kind of clubs. Played basketball there.
Interviewer: Did you play, was there basketball?
Shkolnik: We did play basketball. I don’t remember if it was the girls or .
. . .
Interviewer: Someone organized it?
Shkolnik: No, that’s right. Just did it. Went swimming at the K of C.
Interviewer: K of C?
Shkolnik: Knights of Columbus.
Interviewer: Where was that?
Shkolnik: On, across from Grant Hospital I believe it is. Walked all these
places.
Interviewer: Uh huh. At night and during the day?
Shkolnik: We walked, you know what, we’d walk home from Schonthal Center,
walk down Parsons and Fulton and all those streets and never was afraid. Never
ever was afraid.
Interviewer: Didn’t have any reason to be.
Shkolnik: No.
Interviewer: That’s when doors weren’t locked.
Shkolnik: No our door was never locked. Never ever.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So when you were growing up you have very fond memories
and I’m sure that you remember activities, you know, the community. What about
stores? What do you remember about where your family shopped?
Shkolnik: Lazarus, the Union. My mother loved going to the Union ’cause she
liked quality not quantity. And there’s a funny story about . . . .
Interviewer: You want to share that?
Shkolnik: Sure. My mother couldn’t read or write. She was illiterate and
whenever she’d go downtown where she has charge accounts, somebody had to go
with her to sign and so it was my turn. And so we went to the Union and she
learned how to spell Levy, L-E-V-Y. And so the salesgirl asked her her name, you
know, ready to sign, and I started to say it and she’d say, “Nu loze
mere“, in Jewish, she’d say, “Nu loze mere“,
“Let me,” ’cause you know she knows how so I said, “Okay.”
So she said, “Sam.” She didn’t know how to spell Sam. She said ,
“Sam Levy, L-E-V-VY, but we’re not from the rich Levys, we’re from the
poor Levys.” The rich Levys owned the Union and so . . . .
Interviewer: Oh yeah, yeah.
Shkolnik: You know when you’re a kid . . . . years old and I thought,
“Oh my God.” I wanted to go through the floor. I was so embarrassed.
Interviewer: . . . . embarrassed . . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: But she was putting the record straight.
Shkolnik: Yeah. She had a great sense of humor, my mother. Oh yeah, yeah. And
my dad had. But his was more of a dry humor. But my mother was funny. Didn’t
even mean to be sometimes.
Interviewer: It just came out that way, huh?
Shkolnik: Yeah, uh hum.
Interviewer: So your house was probably like an open house. . . . . a lot of
. . . .
Shkolnik: Yeah. Every Saturday night when we had a date, the living room was
full. These people would always come. We used to call it the “Levy
Hotel.” And I’d say . . . . and you had to go around introducing
everybody, you know, it was kind of embarrassing at that point in my life.
Interviewer: Did your parents socialize other than their activities in the
synagogue. In other words did they play cards, did they . . . .
Shkolnik: My parents didn’t play cards but my mother, on Saturday
afternoons, I remember after I was married, she’d have people come over for Oneg
Shabbat on Saturday and so she’d call me Friday and she’d, or Thursday,
and say, you know, would I bake something to, so every Saturday I baked this
lemon cake that she loved and so I would take it over Friday ’cause I wasn’t
going to ride over there on Saturday or she wouldn’t take it on Saturday. But
I, after I married my husband, I kind of let go a little bit of things that I
wouldn’t, well, when I went to work, but you know the wonderful thing? My
parents were wonderful about it. Even though they felt that way, they knew that
their, you know, living in America. I mean if they could want you to work on
Saturday, well you’d do that, you know. I had to work half a day on Saturday.
Or you’d lose your job. There was . . . .
Interviewer: Tell us about the jobs that you had.
Shkolnik: I didn’t have too many of them. I did baby sitting when I was
little.
Interviewer: Do you remember how much you got for baby sitting?
Shkolnik: Uh huh. A quarter a day. Not an hour, a day, or 35 cents.
Interviewer: What do you think of the $10 an hour.
Shkolnik: Oh I think it’s great.
Interviewer: They get $10 an hour here. I can’t believe it.
Shkolnik: Isn’t that something? I can’t either. It’s awful.
Interviewer: Yeah my grandchildren . . . .
Shkolnik: I know. I remember when my grandkids baby sat. Melanie. One day she
made $40 and they took her out to dinner and they took her to the movies so she
could watch the kids while they all went to the movies.
Interviewer: Wow.
Shkolnik: Yeah.
Interviewer: So we were thrilled to have those quarter-a-day jobs.
Shkolnik: Oh right on.
Interviewer: Okay. What did you do after baby sitting?
Shkolnik: After baby sitting . . . .
Interviewer: I mean when you got older.
Shkolnik: As I got older I worked at Gilbert’s Shoe Store, sold shoes.
Interviewer: What do you remember about Gilbert’s Shoes? I’ve had some
conversations about that.
Shkolnik: Well every Jew that didn’t have a job worked at Gilbert’s.
Interviewer: Every Jew that wore shoes wore Gilbert’s shoes?
Shkolnik: Absolutely. A lot of college students worked there. They worked on
a, they didn’t work on a salary. It’s what you sold and then’d have shoes
that were P.M.s which meant you got an extra discount for it. Some shoes, you
made an extra 25 cents, a whole 25 cents or 50 cents and like my brother Foot
worked there for a long time so he knew, you know, he would push that particular
shoe where he could make that extra money. I mean, even if it didn’t fit.
Interviewer: It was a promotion?
Shkolnik: Yes.
Interviewer: I don’t think people cared that much about fit like they do
today.
Shkolnik: No, no, no, no. Altogether different way of life.
Interviewer: If the price was right and it looked okay.
Shkolnik: Yeah, $2.99, $1.99, $3.99.
Interviewer: So Gilbert’s was kind of an institution?
Shkolnik: Oh absolutely. Every, I’m telling you I wasn’t with it that
long but they have stories, I’m sure. I know my brother Foot had stories all
the time about it. And people still to this day still talk to me about when he’d
sell.
Interviewer: He was a hard sell?
Shkolnik: Yeah, oh yeah.
Interviewer: Any other jobs that you had after that?
Shkolnik: Yeah and then I worked for Outdoor Military Store. Josephson owned
that and it was, they sold uniforms to officers. They had a riding department
where they sold riding clothes. And I worked there for a couple years.
Interviewer: Riding, you mean like horseback riding?
Shkolnik: Yeah, horseback riding, jodphurs, oh I had all that stuff. I had
the boots, I had a jacket.
Interviewer: You didn’t have a horse?
Shkolnik: Never had a horse but I used to go hiking, hiking in my jodphurs
and my jacket.
Interviewer: Bet you looked good?
Shkolnik: Oh I looked like I was horsing. Then after that I got a job at
Blonders, Blonder Wallpaper Company and I worked there until after I got
married.
Interviewer: Was that owned by a Jewish fellow?
Shkolnik: Yeah from Blonders, from Cleveland. They owned it, yeah. And there
was a lot of anti-Semitism here and among wallpaper people, people that hung
wallpaper and painters and my name being Levy, he asked me to change my name to
Lee.
Interviewer: Oh.
Shkolnik: That I should go by Lee.
Interviewer: Did you do that?
Shkolnik: No, I said I would because I wanted the job. You couldn’t get a
job.
Interviewer: Okay. You didn’t want to change your name.
Shkolnik: No I didn’t. I was insulted that a Jew would ask me to do that.
Interviewer: Uh huh. But you got along okay?
Shkolnik: Yeah, yeah, He wasn’t there.
Interviewer: Okay.
Shkolnik: He was in Cleveland.
Interviewer: Okay. So you worked?
Shkolnik: Mr. Blonder’s main office was in Cleveland. He spent little time
in Columbus. Therefore I was able to keep the name Levy. After I got married, I
left Blonder’s. I didn’t work after that. I had my children; was a
stay-at-home mom. My interest was in being a volunteer. Nightingale Cottage,
Cerebral Palsy Clinic, Heritage House, Agudas Achim Sisterhood, Ivrayah,
Hadassah, Young Judea (youth group of Hadassah), Jr. Sisterhood and more of
these types of organizations. My life was satisfied with volunteering, golf,
travels and our family.
* * *
Transcribed by Honey Abramson