What do you remember most about your grandfather?
David wrote all of his books sitting at the back of his South St. Paul store, and he did not even have a separate room to use as his office. He had a desk near a window, and he wrote everything in longhand. It seemed as if he wrote all day long, and I never saw him wait on a customer at all. And as best as I can remember, he never talked to us about what he was writing.
He sure did love to walk. He would walk all the way to downtown St. Paul, and then he would stop at our house back in West St. Paul. When we built our first home in 1948, he would often show up for coffee before 8 a.m. on a weekend morning, and he had already walked for miles.
He always wore a shirt, tie, and a vest or a coat, on every occasion and on every day. Even when he was working at the store he wore a tie, vest and usually a coat; indeed, that was how everyone dressed in those days. He never talked to me about his childhood in Latvia.
What was it like to be one of the only Jewish families in town?
We were one of only five Jewish families in South St. Paul. We were always accepted as Jewish there, and we had absolutely zero problems in that town. As far as I knew, David never experienced any anti-Semitism. He was treasurer of the Masonic Lodge, and he participated in local community work like the Rotary Club. David was not particularly religious, though my parents kept kosher. And since Saturday was a big day for the store, the store was always open on Saturday.
Did you consider David a financial success?
We had a good life when I was growing up and we weren’t ever poor. I was only told once that we didn’t have enough money for something I wanted to do – I wanted to go to the boy-scout jamboree in Washington, D.C. and I was told there wasn’t enough money in our family for this expense.
Do you remember any particular impressions of David and his wife?
He and Lena were somewhat distant as grandparents. It was a lot different than today, when grandparents are baby-sitting and taking their grandchildren for skating lessons and who knows what all. Also, when I was growing up I was the youngest in my family. I think David talked more to Miriam and Lorraine. When I did come to the store, David was always in the back. My mother Ruth would come down to the store with me – it was a lot more interesting than staying home. Eventually Ruth was at the cash register more than Al, it seemed.
What was his relationship like with your dad, his son Al?
He did not get along with Al, my dad. They would yell at each other about store business.
Still, my dad had a lot of friends, and everyone liked him at the store. He didn’t have an outgoing personality, but everyone knew him. He read three of four books every week, and he loved going to the library, but unlike his father he never wrote anything. His favorite activity was playing poker, and he played it every day. David was disdainful of my dad playing poker all the day, when he should have been working in the store more.
How did you get along with your aunts and uncles, David’s children?
Mose and his family were so nice to me when I was stationed in the Coast Guard during World War II. They had me over all the time and were always very hospitable. Belle never seemed to pay me much attention, perhaps because I was not such a great student. My dad was quite close to Helen, though, and I remember many occasions when we went to see Helen and her kids in Minneapolis.