Louis Albert was born in 1891 in Kiev, Ukraine where his father was a Rabbi. He was supposed to be one too, but when he was 13 years old, he went into the forestry business with his uncle. In 1906, he immigrated to America. After a few years in Portland, Oregon, Louis moved to Fall River, …
Read MoreDora Ail was born in the small village of Ugrain, near the larger town of Echelanislov in Poland in 1901. Fearing the pogroms then prevalent in that area, the family traveled a circuitous route through Siberia, Vladivostok, and Yokohama, finally reaching Harbin, Manchuria when Dora was 15 years old. Her memories of Harbin are mostly …
Read MoreMiriam Aiken (nee Boskowitz), born July 3, 1886, was the second daughter of Sarah Bloch and Isaac Boskowitz. Her paternal grandparents came west from New York after the Civil War in search of opportunity and were among the first Jewish families to settle in Oregon. Miriam’s father ran a general store in Union, Oregon when she …
Read MoreHoward Frank Wolfe was born in Portland, Oregon on September 3, 1919, the son of Simon and Carolyn (Solomon) Wolfe. He had an older brother, Alfred. Howard graduated from Lincoln High School and Reed College. He served as an army medic in the Second World War in both European and Pacific campaigns. He survived the …
Read MoreFannie Rosenfeld Tanzer was born on April 3, 1899 in Podlachia, Poland to Hirsh Zvi Rosenfeld and Braindel Rosenfeld. She had six brothers and sisters: Pessie, Anya, Moshe, Yeshia, Abraham, and Ben. Fannie’s three older brothers immigrated to the United States immediately after the First World War, with Fannie, her mother, and her younger brother following …
Read MoreTrudi Schnitzer Stone was born in Portland, Oregon on January 2, 1944 to Manuel and Ruth (Rosumny) Schnitzer. Her maternal grandparents, William and Annie Rosumny, owned the Star Bakery, where Trudi’s mother and her siblings grew up working. Trudi’s uncles Marvin Rosumny and Ben Medofsky continued to run the bakery as Trudi grew up. Trudi’s family …
Read MoreFrances Stein Slifman was born on March 8, 1913 in Portland, Oregon. Her family came to Portland from Odessa in 1910-11 and settled near her father’s family. A fruit and vegetable salesman, her father, Samuel Stein, eventually opened a grocery store in South Portland where she was raised in a complex, vibrant Jewish community, attended public …
Read MoreEstelle Director Sholkoff was born in 1911 in a South Portland. Her parents, Anne Shapiro Director from Lodz, Poland and Nathan Director from Charterisk, Russia had immigrated in 1909, joining Nathan’s older brother Sam, who had arrived in 1905. Anne and Nathan played an important role in building the early Jewish Communal life in Portland. Their …
Read MoreDr. Edward Schneider was born on January 15, 1937 in Tacoma, Washington, where his father Leo Schneider was doing a medical residency. The family returned to Portland soon after he was born. Ed, his mother Rachel, and his sister Sandra moved in with his maternal grandfather Rabbi Joseph Fain when Ed was five years old and …
Read MoreMartin J. Schneiderman was born in Portland, Oregon, in April 1942, the only child of Leonard Schneiderman and Betty Posner Schneiderman. He lived in the immigrant neighborhood of South Portland and attended Shattuck School. During Martin’s final year of elementary school, Urban Renewal in South Portland compelled the family to relocate to the Hillsdale neighborhood. After …
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