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Feb 20, 2015

Jewelry and

                                               





Sentiment





“Could you make something with Lucy’s silverware?”
Asked my beloved cousin, Claire.
I was glad to fulfil her wish!
There were six teaspoons, much older than me,
(about 95 years old), waiting for their new “life”.





  










                                                                                                                                                                                      



 A Jewel with sentiment is worth a lot!
(Mostly, the sentiment is what we love about it,
more than its appearance or its value…)


My aunt Lucy, had a typical story
of an emigrant to the U.S.
Lucy Korn was born in 1898,
in a small town, Tismenitza, located
in Galizia, which was Poland at that time.
(The town was destroyed during the second World War).
Unlike most Jewish girls,
she graduated high school, and
very soon realized that she “had no future”.
Being the second daughter in a traditional family,
she could marry only after her older sister.
Her sister was infected by tuberculosis,
so she could not get married.
Lucy decided to look for a husband
in the place where “gold is found in the streets”…






















22 year old brave Lucy arrived all alone
at Ellis Island, in 1920.



Ellis Island In 1920s.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      


Ellis Island in 1920s.

















Her first place in the States was the city of New York:


New York Street in 1920s.


















Soon she found him (not the gold…).
She got married to Morris Bloom in 1922,
and they settled in Hartford, Connecticut,
for the rest of their lives.















The rushed marriage did not last long,
and after they already had two children they got divorced.
Morris re-married, while Lucy raised and
supported the children by working as a seamstress.


When I was working with the teaspoons, I thought a lot about her
and spoke to my American family:
Her son, Bernie, remembers her as a harsh and
bossy person, who was a very devoted mother,
but never showed  love towards them.
“If only she had kissed me once…”, said Rosalind, her daughter,
soon after Lucy had passed away…
Being a professional psychologist,
(Prof. Bernard Bloom),
92 years old Bernie, explains this harshness
as a post-traumatic behavior:
She had lost all her family in the war!
Carrying this heavy loss,
and having a sense of guilt for surviving,
while never expressing it during her life time.

Grandma Lucy























Other people, including my Israeli family
remember her great sense of humor,
her wit, and her being outspoken
(which was sometimes tactless…)
For me, as a young girl, Lucy was
“THE AUNT  from America”.




Me with Mutzy, at the time I first met Aunt Lucy.























(This is me with Mutzy, at the time I first met Aunt Lucy.)
She helped our family during the Israeli
recession of the 1950’s:
I remember her packages with the
second-hand weird clothes,
the real Ness-Cafe and the milk powder,
the Bubble-Gum!!! Oh, that was great!
The “Philco “–
 the first refrigerator in our neighborhood…


Lucy and me, Israel, 1962.





















(Lucy and me, Israel, 1962.)
Finally, and with all these thoughts, 
my mission was accomplished.
Here is the outcome - 

6 rings for Lucy’s granddaughters and
great granddaughters:

























Enjoy and comment below.

See you soon,

Vita

4 comments:

  1. This is about my grandmother who I remember as a very loving, but not demonstrative woman, who was generous to a fault! The rings that were made are for me, and for my sister Davida, and for my granddaughters who share Lucy's initials which are on the rings. The girl's parent's last names are Launchbury and Baker or Launchbury and Bohanan. The final remaining ring is still undetermined, hence the multi colored stones, but perhaps there is a wedding in the future between a Bloom and someone with the last name beginning with L, or another Bohanan, or who knows what!!! A way to preserve sentiment and also give a great gift!

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  2. Wonderful story and beautiful heirloom rings! As Tevye would say "Tradition!"

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Thank you Nancy!
    I enjoyed writing it, as well as making the rings.
    I think it is the story of many emigrants to the U.S.
    Still, inspite of its being typical, it is exciting when it is personalized...

    Vita

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