Today Mom would have celebrated her 91st birthday, so I thought I’d share a few facts, stories, and photos to commemorate the occasion.
Florence
Gold was born January 23, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, to Tillie Siegel and
Morris Gold. She was the youngest of 5 children. She was very close to all of
her siblings, but had a special bond with Harold who was closest in age to her
(after Rose died in 1958). Rose was born in 1922, Harold in 1921, Rae in 1918
and Sid in 1916. So Mom was truly the baby in the family.
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| Florence with brother Harold, c 1944 |
Mom often
reminisced about her adventures with her good friend Elaine. Elaine’s family
was wealthy and they employed a maid who would take Elaine and Mom to the
movies and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Mom started smoking cigarettes when she
was 15. Her siblings were not happy about it, but they helped hide her smoking
from their parents.
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| Florence (front) with friend, c 1940 |
Mom’s family moved around a lot, but stayed in the same general area of Brooklyn. When she was a teenager, they ultimately moved to an apartment building on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Ditmas Ave. This is where she met Dad (Sidney Schwartz) who was living in the same building with his family. Mom graduated from Prospect Heights High School in January 1949 and she and Dad became engaged a few months later and got married in 1951.
Florence, high school, 1949
In the
mid-1950s, Mom, Dad, and my oldest brother Matt moved to Silver Spring, MD.
Mom’s sister Rose and brother Harold were living there at the time. Their
mother Tillie lived there for awhile, as well. My brother Jeff was born, the
family moved to Rockville, then I was born. Mom became close, life-long friends
with our neighbor, Eleanor (Ellie) Munson.
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| Florence with Ellie, c 1980 |
For many years, Mom worked as the bookkeeper at John Ligon, a window and floor coverings store in Bethesda. She enjoyed the work and friendships with her coworkers. Before her job at John Ligon, she had a few other part-time jobs – one was selling Amway products. For awhile, she was involved with the Jewish War Veterans Ladies Auxiliary.
Mom had many hobbies. She crocheted, knitted, danced in Jacki Sorensen aerobics classes, and played bridge and tennis. But best of all, Mom loved to read. She read the descriptions of new books that were in the Washington Post each week and put a hold on the ones that sounded good from the Aspen Hill public library. At times, she belonged to the Book of the Month Club.
Mom loved
babies, especially her grandchildren! She loved holding, talking and reading to,
and playing with them and making them laugh. They were her greatest joy. Happy birthday to an amazing mother and grandmother – kind, funny, caring, dedicated, and supportive, and loving.
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| Florence with 1st grandchild Kacey, 1984 |