To Alexandra – A Bit About Where You Came From

My original email to Leonard:

Someday, we need to talk about where we came from. Like what was Sam Liss’ real name, his father’s name, Sam Gold’s real name, the name of Sam Liss’ sister and her sons…One fat boy and the other no doubt from another marriage, Eric who had a white Jag and walked with a limp from a gunshot…Did Rose and Sally immigrate to Caracas or Buenos Ares before they moved to NY…when did they move to Houston, she from NY, he from Montreal after he left Paris…did he really schtoop Josephine Baker???

Since I’ve been working at a High School – just thought you’d like to see what Bellaire High looks like now…a tad better than when we there, but I’m guessing we had better teachers…who weren’t so woke…

https://www.houstonisd.org/bellairehigh

We went to a very white school in the 60s. According to their demographics today, only 24% of the school is white! Huh?

20% black, 41% Hispanic…very similar to where I’m teaching in San Rafael…

I have the pic of Sally in a sailor suit in PS63 group pic 1927 – that would be 15 years old – graduating from 8th grade – and ready to meet Shaeffer and pop out Norman and Albert two years later…Sally told me Shaeffer was actually a very nice man, but she was just too young. Albert is still going at 91 — Do you or Connie stay in Contact with the Nieces…Robin, Allison, Helene (Norman’s) and Jennifer (Albert’s)?

Sally Gold 2nd row from bottom fourth from right

Liss Crest – Fox in Polish

“Not sure of the years…but Zada (Sam Gold – our lineal grandfather from our mother’s side) was well versed in Spanish…Sally Gold (Kabulka -not sure of spelling) and Sam Liss were born in Warsaw…she was a little girl when Sam Gold , Rose Kabulka Gold (Goldenzinger?) and Sally took a boat to Buenos Aires after WW1—in the 20s…from there to go to PS 63 in NYC…obviously to have Norman and two years later —Albert…Pop (Sam Liss) was a party boi and never really stopped til he got to Houston (He bragged that he had an affair with Josephine Baker – the black American expatriate in the 20s)…the link is Laya Liss…Sam’s mother and Rose’s sister (Sally once said that there were 10 or 12 brothers and sisters in Poland – the two sisters were the only ones who escaped the Holocaust). Yes, Sally and Sam were cousins…just enough separation that I don’t’ have 6 toes on one foot and eight on the other…As you stated they trekked west to Paris from Warsaw and then got flown into Montreal…Sister Cecille had a boy with ‘who knows who’ the father is—then when she got here, she married Izzy Epstein and had little Louis…big Jewish French population still in Montreal…relatives wanted to get Sam Liss to America to meet his cousin Sally…I think…that’s the story as I know it…

I depended on Cecille for this…Apparently, their parents, Abraham and Laya Liss were relatively successful small grocers in Poland and then it got hot to be in Europe and be Jewish…lots of anti-semitism overt white on white crime in the 1930s. Sam Gold had the good genes…made it to 86 and smoked like they used to…In Houston, I would go with him when he opened a little “dry goods” store on Main Street at the corner of Truxillo (pronounced Trucks sill-o in Texan)…he had pinochle games working in the back room with his buddies…I watched for customers and would tell him and he’d go out and sell ‘em a couple of shirts, pants and/or a gold wrist watch…later, they’d call the liquor store on the corner and the manager would give a me a sack containing a bottle of hootch and cigarettes…I was told not to open the bag and walk directly back to Zada…of course I looked…they always gave me a tip from the change I brought them back…Cecille had Eric in Europe…after they emigrated to Montreal after the war…I think Eric came the same route but later… Eric moved to California and Cecille competed for the available men in Houston…he was a waiter in Napa he just needed his $4K a month back then…Cecille left a house on Braeswood @ Stella Link inside the Loop to little Louis…and cash…he stuck it ALL up his nose and ended up losing everything and no shit living with his black maid/nanny that all but raised him…30 years ago or so…haven’t heard from either since…”

He also sent these links to put the Jewish Argentina experience in context:

https://jewishcurrents.org/august-14-jewish-cowboys/

Funny, not really any Jewish Cowboys in our family, but we might be a distant relative of Kinky Friedman, who ran for Governor and was famous for his band: Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys…with their big hit – I’ve Got My Biscuits in the Oven and My Buns in the Bed… I’ll let you rely on Alain and Ancestry.com to fill in the spaces I don’t know and where you came from on your mother’s side. Alain will tell you that his real father didn’t stick around was named Duoec (not sure of spelling) …I guess your mother might fill you in since I hear she’s off her meds and semi-conscious.