Elizabeth Menashe (nee McBride) was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, to parents Ruth and Jack McBride. She had two siblings: Jerry and Margaret. When Elizabeth was two, her family moved to Spokane, Washington, where she spend her childhood. The family relocated again, this time to Bend, Oregon, when Elizabeth was entering high school. After graduation, …
Read MoreErnest Markewitz was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 11, 1903 to Milton and Frances Markewitz. His family had been in the United States for several generations. His parents were born in Portland, and met and married there. They had two sons, Ernest and his brother Arthur. Ernest’s father Milton co-founded the Bushong printing company, where …
Read MoreArthur Markewitz was born in Portland June 2, 1908 to Milton and Frances Lachman Markewitz, and passed away on November 29, 1984. His father, Milton, was born in San Francisco, where his own father worked as a coppersmith in California and then came up to Portland through Jacksonville. Milton was a stock (paper) cutter for …
Read MoreShirley Mark was born in Portland on July 4, 1923 to Max and Florence Casler Berenson, Polish and Russian immigrants, respectively. She had three older brothers, Milton, Bernard, and Norman. who were all grown and out of the house for most of her childhood. The family kept a religious home, on SW 15th Street and …
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 MoreLotte Goldschmidt Magnus was born on March 17, 1920 in Frankfurt, Germany to Lily and Adolf Goldschmidt. She had an older brother, Hans. In 1926 she began attending a liberal Jewish school in Frankfurt and was a student there until she had the opportunity to emigrate to the United States via the Kindertransport in 1934. She was …
Read MoreLeland Lowenson was born in 1902, in Portland, Oregon to George and Daisy (Dorothea Hermann) Lowenson. The family had been in Portland since 1883, and in San Francisco before that. They lived in Northwest Portland and Leland attended Couch and Ainsworth Grammar Schools, Lincoln High School, and Stanford University. His family was involved with Congregation …
Read MoreSelma Loney was born in Covallis, Oregon in 1922 to William and Sarah Konick. William had come to Corvallis in 1913, when there was only one Jewish family living there (the Reicharts). He opened a jewelry store. He and Sarah married in 1921 and had two children: Selma and Alvin. The family traveled to Portland to celebrate …
Read MoreVicki Lind was born Vicki Lichtenstein to Arthur and Anja Lichtenstein in Hagerstown, Maryland, while her father was stationed there for military service. Her parents changed their name to Lind when they moved to Portland in 1947. Vicki grew up as a secular Jew in Southwest Portland, graduating from Wilson High School and then Antioch …
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