Did You Hear The Story About...

 

     Earlier this month we ventured north to Philadelphia to visit our kids and some friends. It was close to a year since we moved to Florida and Covid-19 made it impossible to get together any earlier. In addition to spending time with family and friends we also attended to some important family business. We had an unveiling for Arlene’s mother, Gertrude Carlton. We helped my cousin Judy clean out our Aunt Ruth’s apartment. It was the first opportunity to get into her apartment since her death in March. Memories were triggered while dealing with these affairs and I realized that whenever I search through the names on my family tree I often remember charming and humorous stories of those who have passed on. Here are some of my favorites. 

      My Aunt Rose Kremer nee Boxinbaum was my mother’s sister and a devout Cokaholic. She probably drank 4 cans of Coca Cola a day. In 1985 the Coca Cola Company changed the 90 year old formula for their popular soft drink to compete with Pepsi Cola. The strategy was to win back some of their market share which was lost to a younger generation that preferred the sweeter taste that Pepsi provided. This did not go over well with the hard line, old school Coca Cola fans; my Aunt Rose being one of them. Proactively, she went out and purchased what seemed like a truckload of cases of the old formula and stored them in her basement. It was not a lifetime supply but it would get her through most of the next year until she could figure out what to do. Three months later Coca Cola introduced Coca Cola Classic which was nothing more than the original formula. Rose was duped by what may have been the most successful marketing ploy of the 20th century.

 

     Arlene’s Uncle Lou Rubin was an optometrist by trade but an actor in his heart. He owned and acted in a dinner theater near Richmond, VA. He was also a remarkable story teller. He told us of the time that his mother was preparing a dinner for about 12 people and she had cooked a total of one chicken to feed all of those people. Lou and his siblings explained that it wasn’t enough but their mother insisted that it would be fine. They spread the word to the family members at the dinner to go light on the chicken. The strategy worked too well and there was chicken leftover at the end of the meal. “What did I tell you” their mother exclaimed. “It was enough” 

     My Uncle Sam (my father’s brother) served in a courrier squadron during WWII. He was stationed in India but they made regular trips by airplane to their posts in China to deliver supplies, orders, and money for payroll. The planes had to fly over the hump (the Himalyan Mountains) and between the altitude to get over the mountains and the uncertain weather the flights could get very rough. Sam told us that on one trip one of the plane’s engines failed. They would not be able to make it all the way to China on the remaining engine and they were going to need to bail out. The crew donned their parachutes and before they jumped they assembled for a prayer for God to protect them. Sam was the only Jewish soldier among them but he joined in because he felt, “It can’t hurt”. As soon as they finished the prayer and were about to jump the failed engine came back to life. Sam liked to think that his joining in was the reason that he and his non Jewish crewmates were saved from bailing out. 

     My first cousin Steve had a propensity to put his foot in his mouth especially when he was younger. Once, during dinner at home in Levittown, his mother was serving spaghetti. Steve proclaimed that a woman’s place was in the kitchen. He was probably around eight years old but that did not prevent his mother from dumping the bowl of pasta, sauce and all over his head. 

 

     This last story has a genealogical bend to it. I manage DNA results of myself, my wife, my sister, her husband, and Aunt Ruth. About a year ago somebody named Bruce contacted me about a close DNA match between him and my brother-in-law, Frank. We found the match and it was indeed a second cousin that Frank was not aware of. We shared family trees and he added Frank’s family members to his tree. I happened to take a look at it and noticed he added pictures even if I didn’t have those pictures attached to my tree. One picture he added was Aunt Ruth’s picture. I know he took it from her Facebook profile. Little did he know that when we set up Ruth’s Facebook account we used a picture of Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbillies as her profile picture. I contacted Bruce and told him about the mistake and he said “I thought she looked familiar.”

 

      There are thousands of stories in everyone’s family and recounting them should bring back warm memories to all.