Flora Steinberg Rubenstein was born in 1909 in Lublin, Poland. Her father came to Portland, Oregon in 1913 and her mother and three siblings and she followed in 1921. She attended Failing School and took sporadic classes offered at night school at Lincoln High School and then attended Behnke-Walker Business College. She married Meyer Rubenstein in …
Read MoreLouis Rotenberg was born in Portland in 1914. He grew up in South Portland and later in the Park Blocks, attending Shattuck, Failing, Cleveland and Lincoln Schools. Lou’s father Hyman owned a bakery where Lou and his two brothers worked as boys, although their mother counseled them to stay away from the bakery business as a …
Read MoreAugusta “Gussie” Reinhardt was born on December 31, 1907 in Salem, Oregon to Oscar and Anna Kirshner of Odessa, Russia; her siblings were Ora Kirshner Goodman, Hyman Kirshner, and Isadore Kirshner. She graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland in 1925, majored in physical education at the University of Washington, and received her master’s degree in …
Read MoreEugene Nudelman Sr. was born in 1906 in Portland, Oregon. He is the grandson of Joseph Nudelman who brought an agricultural colony from Russia in the 1880s to start an agrarian collective farm in North Dakota. When that farm failed the group moved to Nevada and then California before arriving in Portland, where there were …
Read MoreJeanne Mittleman Newmark was born in Portland, Oregon on April 10, 1930 to Helen and Harry Mittleman, the youngest of four girls. Her sisters were Marian, Charlotte, and Babette. Helen and Harry Mittleman were both born in Nebraska in 1900 and, after marrying, moved to Castle Rock, Washington, where Harry owned a grocery store. When …
Read MoreJohn H. Miller was born on February 18, 1907 in Neunkirchen, Germany the eldest of three children of Simon and Flora (Kahn) Mueller. His brother Walter (born in 1908) and Greta (Salomon born in 1910) followed. Their parents Simon and Flora ran a men’s clothing store in Düsseldorf. John was educated as far as high school. …
Read MoreGayle Breslow Marger was born on April 4, 1944 in Portland, Oregon to Max and Gertie Levin Breslow. Max was a professional jazz musician, who came to Portland from Lincoln, Nebraska. He died when Gayle was quite young. Because both of her aunts married Sephardic men, Gayle grew up with both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions. Her …
Read MoreFlora Schwartz Marcus was born in Russia in 1905 and came to the United States with her mother, her sister Sadie, and brother Nate when she was eight years old to join her father and brother, Sam, who had come earlier. The family lived in South Portland and attended Shaarie Torah Synagogue. Flora learned English at …
Read MoreIrv Leopold was born on April 3, 1926 in Portland, Oregon to Sam and Pearl Nudelman Leopold, who arrived in the United States as children from Russia and Germany. His mother was a part of the large Nudelman family that came to the US to start an agrarian community in North Dakota. Many of those …
Read MoreDaniel Labby’s life experience reflects the second generation Jewish immigrant experience of the Portland Jewish Community. Born in New York on September 1, 1914, Daniel moved with his parents, and his father’s extended family, including uncles, aunts, and grandparents to SW Portland before 1920. They were sponsored in their immigration by Henry Miller. Daniel’s paternal …
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