Memoirs From Else

Memoirs from Else Teutsch Gottlieb

Number Three

Graciously Provided by Marian Price

Transcribed by Jerry Zeisler

[please see the overview for background]

August 29, 1991

Dear Marian,

On Sunday Gert and Ruth picked me up to help celebrate Gert and Ruth’s wedding anniversary at Bruce’s and Lisa’s home. I had not finished your letter, but I gave it along to Ruth anyhow to mail it to you, because there is no post-office close by where I live. I can mail a letter just outside of my home, if I know the right postage. In Woodbine New Jersey, which was also a village we had a post office, a bank, a few grocery stores, a butcher who slaughtered cattle and all this within walking distance. Where I live now, this is a retirement place for senior citizens and there are no stores allowed to be built. It belongs to Cranbury, but it’s called Clearbrook and it is a development. There is a gate-house and you can only enter the village after the person you want to visit is called by phone and approves that you can enter. It’s a safe place to live for older people.

In Venningen, Germany we had also 2 bakeries, 3 grocery stores, 2 butchers, one of them was my uncle, who slaughtered his own cattle. This was my cousin Werner Teutsch’s father who was also a cattle dealer. There were some villages close by where we lived and my father had a good business. It was easier to earn a living in Venningen than in Bosen, so my mother was glad that Leo settled down in Venningen after my father’s death.

I have Bruce’s wife Lisa’s birthday also. Bruce Frederic Gottlieb, Insurance agent, born August 11, 1959 in Philadelphia, PA., married to Lisa Stoller, nurse born on December 12, 1962, on November 25, 1990. They live in Manalapan, New Jersey. Gene and Ruth Gottlieb live in East Brunswick, NJ. Larry and Peggy Gottlieb live also in East Brunswick, NJ. There is a New Brunswick, North Brunswick, South Brunswick.

Since Rash Hashonah starts already on Sunday night September the 8th, I want to wish you and yours a happy New Year above all good health.

We have High Holiday services on Clearbrook. The first year after Leo and I moved to Clearbrook we celebrated Rosh Hashonah with Gert & Ruth in East Brunswick. They have a big Synagogue, but it’s about a ½ hour drive to my home. Now I am a member of the Clearbrook Community and so was Leo. My taxi driver who is also Jewish will pick me up and he and his wife will bring me home again.

Have nice holidays. With love to you all.

Yours Else

October 3, 1991

Dear Marian,

Thank you so much for sending me part of the family tree and also for your good wishes for New Year. I am glad that you and Bob are working on the family tree. It’s quite a job to do it.

I was so happy to hear from Reggie and to know that she is all right. She is the only first cousin of Leo, who is still alive. Yes it is true that I never met Reggie.

Travelling did never agree with me. As long as we had our poultry farm in Woodbine, NJ, only one of us could leave the farm. Leo was a very good businessman, but when I went away for one day to visit my uncle and aunt in Philadelphia, or I had a dental appointment, I prepared a meal for Leo and he only had to warm it up on our gas-stove. When we moved to Clearbrook-Cranbury where I still live, Leo was afraid to push the button on our electric stove to turn it on. So when Gert and Ruth visited Selma and Reggie we did not go along to Washington which I regret very much. At that time Leo’s arthritis bothered him and he had trouble with walking.

Leo and I had met your dear parents on Bruce’s Bar Mitzvah in 1972 in East Brunswick and we had an enjoyable time with them. So your mother could meet some of our family members. We all had been so much younger at that time. Now I am old, also bothered with arthritis and I’m getting more forgetful. Gert and Ruth are very good to me and also my grand-children. No one can replace Leo.

I attended Mike Herz's Bar Mitzvah. I met none of your relatives. To Bob’s Bar Mitzvah I didn’t go because traveling was too hard for me. I believe your mother attended the Bar Mitzvah. I don’t know if Reggie did. I just looked through your mother’s papers and she wrote - We attended one Bar Mitzvah in Windsor and also one of Gene’s and Ruth’s boys. I believe the “we” means both of your parents.

Bruce’s wife’s maiden name is Lisa Stollar. I had it spelled wrong. You had asked me about my sister Gertrud in Brazil. She liked to travel. She spent a year in Italy, a year in France and also in England to learn the language. When she came home in 1936 it was easy to receive a visa to go to Brazil, but then because of Hitler she couldn’t return anymore and she had to stay there. I am the only one of my sisters who had a hard time when traveling.

I hope I answered your questions. If not you have to write me again.

Now stay well together. I am very thankful that both of you are interested in our family tree.

With love to you all

Yours Else.

*****