Phil Blank

BLANK: My family came to Portland via New York from Europe — from Russia — in 1914. My father, mother… at that time I had a little sister and five brothers. They landed in New York at Ellis Island and then came directly to Portland. We had family here — an uncle here that sponsored the family.

Weinstein: What was his name?
BLANK: Mendel Schneiderman. He was married to my aunt, my father’s sister. Actually, my brother Ted was six weeks old, or something like that. He was very young when they came. They had an aborted trip. They left Russia, got to Liverpool, and one of my sisters at that time had a problem, and they had to go back. That little girl died in Europe. My mother had a couple of daughters. The one that came with her lived to be 11 years old and died of a ruptured appendix here in Portland. That was tragic for my mother, forever. 

Weinstein: To lose two daughters.
BLANK: In addition to which, she started losing sons, too. 

Weinstein: I just would like to know more about the circumstances of their coming. Was there a special reason that they left?
BLANK: Oh, sure. The pogroms and the army situation in Russia.

Weinstein: Where did they live in Russia?
BLANK: In a little town called Bagapol. It’s in the Ukraine, near Kiev. They were in a couple of businesses there. One was a rock quarry. They had something called droshkies, which were taxicabs, horse-driven cabs. That’s what they were doing in Russia. So, evidently they decided it was time to get out, and the US was the place to go.

Weinstein: And this Schneiderman relative was their sponsor?
BLANK: He was the sponsor in Portland.

Weinstein: So when they landed, they landed in New York.
BLANK: New York, and got on a train and came directly [to Portland]. They spent Passover at Ellis Island and my brother Abe, in his conversations, would say how nice they were to him and how nice the Seder was in Ellis Island. And after that they came to Portland.

Weinstein: I’ve never heard of that before. That’s unique. So what did your father do? At that time he had six children?
BLANK: Six children. I can envision him. I’ve been to Ellis Island a couple of times. There’s a stairway. You had to go upstairs to register. I can envision him going up those stairs and registering his children. He was in his early 40s, I’d say, at that time, with six kids. The courage that the people had to make the change [and] to come. Incredible.

Weinstein: With no knowledge of English, I’m sure.
BLANK: None.

Weinstein: So when he got to Portland – tell me about then.
BLANK: Well, I’m a little foggy about what transpired at that point, but I know that we lived in a house on SW Broadway and Harrison. I was born in that house. My father was a typical peddler at that time. He went out in the country, got the scrap metal, brought it into town and sold it. Eventually, he had a small manufacturing business of burlap bags. He had a little store front and six or seven women on sewing machines. That’s what he did. He died when I was 15. He was pretty young, about 58 or 59.

Weinstein: Was it an illness or an epidemic?
BLANK: He had a cancer. Colon cancer.

Weinstein: So you lived in the Broadway and Harrison area.
BLANK: Oh, yes. And then we moved uptown to Laurelhurst — 41st and Gleason.

Weinstein: When was that?
BLANK: Well, I was about three years old. I was born in ’22, so it’d be about 1925 that we moved to Laurelhurst.

Weinstein: So you really grew up in the NE part of the city.
BLANK: Yes and no. Even though we lived NE, I spent my days in South Portland. I had two aunts there. One was Mrs. Schneiderman, Mendel’s wife, and the other one as Mrs. Tinkleman. Mrs. Tinkleman was my mother’s sister, and my father’s sister was Mrs. Schneiderman. So I spent my days with them. My uncle and aunt had no children. So my brother Abe would drop me off in the morning and they’d take me home in the evening, all the way to Laurelhurst.

Weinstein: How did they get you home? Street car?
BLANK: No, no. They drove. They had a car. Mendel had a Model A, Model T, whatever it was then. And I played with my cousins, the Tinkleman kids. And Harold Schnitzer and I were boyhood friends. We went to kindergarten at the Neighborhood House together.

Weinstein: What about grade school? If you were with your aunt and uncle?
BLANK: Those days were a little different. It was just in the summertime that I’d come over to South Portland. I’d go to South Portland summers until I was probably 11 or 12 years old.

Weinstein: What about school. Where did you go to school?
BLANK: To Laurelhurst Grade School, Grant High School, and I attended Reed College. I didn’t graduate from Reed. The South Portland experience was [a] nice melting pot of all kinds, mostly Italians and Jews.

Weinstein: Well, it’s interesting that you had both worlds. You were in South Portland but you were also in Northeast. Tell me about the Jewish component of your existence, in relating to neighbors, and just the general community.
BLANK: Well, our Jewish component was… my parents had only Jewish friends. They socialized with Jewish friends. And I basically had Jewish friends as a child, except when I went to school in Laurelhurst. Then I had some gentile friends there. We played after school in those days. But when I was 12 or 13 years old, I would leave school at 2 or 3:00 and ride downtown and sell papers. I sold papers at the American Bank Building. It was my corner. 

Weinstein: Where it is now?
BLANK: Where it is now… I later sold my corner to Harold Saltzman. He bought my corner from me. I bought it from Abe Perel and sold it to Harold Saltzman.

Weinstein: So, the gentile friends that you had… I’m getting at something. I want to know how you related as a Jewish kid to the general community. Do you have any experiences that you remember?
BLANK: I did not have any bad experience. I had good relationships. I was aware of the difference. But we played, and I had some good friends at the Laurelhurst School. When I got to high school, it was strictly Jewish friends. Perhaps not Jewish girls exclusively.

Weinstein: That was going to be my next question, Phil! Did you date girls that were not Jewish?
BLANK: Yes, I did, but mostly Jewish girls.

Weinstein: If you don’t mind my asking, how did your folks respond to that?
BLANK: My mother never approved, but as I got older, I don’t think it was ever an issue in the house.

Weinstein: Was your family really observant?
BLANK: My father was. He didn’t smoke on the weekends. My mother was observant at that time, I think.

Weinstein: And family gatherings?
BLANK: Every Friday night was a big deal. Everybody showed up. My brothers, aunts, and uncles. Friday night was big deal at our house.

Weinstein: And synagogue attendance? Was there much of that?
BLANK: Not really. Holidays. Yarhtzeits and holidays. But no weekly attendance of any kind.

Weinstein: So growing up in a mainly Jewish milieu, you still interacted with the general community?
BLANK: Yeah, very definitely. At the grammar school, the mothers sort of got together and we’d have skating parties, and we went to dancing school. I participated in all that. That was strictly gentile. Dorothy Roth Reiter was in my class at grade school. We entered the first grade together and went to Grant High School together and entered Reed College together. And we’re still friends.

Weinstein: What about your family? You said their friends were all Jewish. Were they active at all… members of the Jewish Community Center or any kind of …?
BLANK: Probably not. Just the synagogue.

Weinstein: The synagogue. That was their main focus of Jewish activity.
BLANK: I don’t recall… nothing like the Jewish Community Center. We, as kids, spent a lot of time at the Jewish Community Center. That was a social place for us. On 13th Avenue. But as far as the gentile friends. I had some pretty close friends, some who lived in the neighborhood, some from school. One young man in particular, Bob Caldwell, was good friend of mine. He was Lila Caldwell’s son, the decorator.

Weinstein: Were you in the military?
BLANK: Yes, I was in the military.

Weinstein: Well, tell me about that.
BLANK: I was in the Navy, an instructor at Treasure Island. Knowing what I was going to do, I went into electronics, radio material. First in Chicago, then I went to Texas A&M. There was a three month course, and I stayed and taught for about three months and went to Treasure Island, where there was a six month course in electronics. I stayed there and taught for two years.

Weinstein: This was all while you were in the Navy.
BLANK: Yes.

Weinstein: Were you drafted?
BLANK: Selective volunteer. I was going to be drafted. I had a choice of going into the Navy, because I wanted to go into that program.

Weinstein: So you were at Treasure Island for two years and then you were discharged. Well, when you were involved in the electronics part of your Navy activities, do you think that may have led to your business career later?
BLANK: I started with that. I started with going into radio service and electronic service because of the training. At that time, that was probably the most advanced electronic course, including any college. It was very specialized, had some physics involved, mostly electronics. We were involved in radar, underwater sound and all that stuff. Predecessors of TV. So we had pretty good training. Yes, when that came out, I went into that kind of business and went into retail after that.

Weinstein: I’d be interested to know about the evolution of your business. You say it started in this repair and service work.
BLANK: It started with radio repair. TV had not arrived yet.

Weinstein: And where was your business located?
BLANK: The first business was on 16th and West Burnside. A little store there. At that time we worked on radios and car radios and installed car radios and that sort of thing. Our second location was on [NW] 21st and Hoyt. We were at the first location five years, and the second location five years. Then opened up across from the stadium on 1fourth and Morrison. We went into sales at that point, and started selling the product as well as servicing. At that point we opened a couple of other stores: one in Eugene, Oregon; one in Yakima, Washington; and one in Longview, Washington, all doing service.

Weinstein: I’m thinking back to the middle ‘50s, when hi-fi became such a popular thing. Did you sell all that kind of equipment?
BLANK: Yes, we did. We did all that equipment… hi-fi installers. We did commercial work. At that time we did all the work for the Safeway Stores, all their intercom work, and we did some of the hotels for sound systems.

Weinstein: Really! So how did that come about?
BLANK: Just background training.

Weinstein: I mean, did you have salespeople that approached the hotels and the supermarket?
BLANK: I was the salesperson. Safeway Stores came to us. I think they contacted us. The reason we got to Yakima, Washington, was that the Bon Marche contacted us to service their products. We were the first city to have ultra hi UHF TV, so we had experience in it and nobody else did. So when that station broke in Yakima, they asked us to come there. And then the Bon asked us to come to Eugene, which we did. We were strictly service at that time. We converted to sales a little later on.

Weinstein: And when did you move to Raleigh Hills? Did you close the stadium store?
BLANK: Not at first, no. At that time we had three stores, one on 111th and Halsey, the stadium store, and then we built the building in Raleigh Hills. I’m trying to think what year that would have been. It might be 40 years ago, which would be ’64. At that point we were switching from the service end to the sales.

Weinstein: I think that an area like Raleigh Hills in the ‘60s… that was still fairly remote. Was it already starting to build up?
BLANK: Safeway hadn’t built yet. It was fairly remote.

Weinstein: But what about residential areas out there?
BLANK: The Wilcox area was there, the Raleigh Hills area. Broadmoor was there. Pretty much, SW had built up.

Weinstein: That was another reason to go into sales, because people were — 
BLANK: We decided that sales was the way to go. We were in sales before we moved to Raleigh Hills. We had a store on 111th & Halsey, and the stadium store, both converted to… At that time we were strictly electronics and then we added appliances. And then when we moved to Raleigh Hills, we added furniture.

Weinstein: I want to go back.
BLANK: I want to go back, too. Because there’s an important part of Jewish history of Portland that’s been left out. And that’s my brother Abe, who was the street circulation manager for, at that time, the News Telegram. Originally the Telegram, then the News, then it became the News Telegram and eventually ended up as the Oregonian. But he was a significant contributing factor to the Jewish community, the young men who would sell papers on the streets. And he was so proud of his ex-news boys, who became doctors and lawyers and judges. It meant a lot to him. Do you remember him, Joannie?

Joan: Absolutely.
BLANK: He was a real important part of the Jewish community, which was never recorded in the earlier history of the Jewish community. Johnny Boston, which was John Runstein, came to town — came on a freight car, riding the rails. My brother gave him a job. He even lived with us for awhile.

Weinstein: John?
BLANK: Johnny Boston, John Runstein. It was an interesting era.

Weinstein: I’d like to know more about it. Whatever you can…
BLANK: I actually think I’d like Milt Carl, even, to tell you. Several of the young men who were the ex-news boys. I think my brother Abe and a man named Leo Dorfman were significant characters, who actually aided to the growth of the young men. I mean they taught them. We were streets-smart young people. We had a little different background than my Laurelhurst friends, because we sold papers on the streets. We had all kinds of experiences. I think that part of Portland history needs to be developed a little more. I’m not able to give you everything.

Weinstein: That’s really a good suggestion. I had written down here I was going to ask you about the Depression Era in Portland.
BLANK: That was interesting. My brother Abe was always pretty solid. That was not an issue. But we had a large house in Laurelhurst. My brother Sam moved back in, and my brother Joe moved back in. They were both married at the time. We combined our resources so we didn’t have any problems, but we were aware of the Depression. They had moved back in because things were tough. Unfortunately, at that time my father wasn’t very well. I also remember the day they closed the banks. My father had this little business I told you about before; they had a little bit of money in the bank. I don’t think a hell of a lot. But when the bank closed, the only money he had was what was in his pocket. That was an interesting time. That was the Hibernia Bank that closed at that time. I remember that vividly.

Weinstein: What is the chronology, the age differences of your brothers?
BLANK: My brother Sam was the oldest. He was 21 years older than me. Abe was 20 years older. Joe was 16 years older. Lou was 12 years older. Ted was four years older.

Weinstein: So you were the baby.
BLANK: I was the baby. Well-treated. Spoiled. It gave me a lot of self-confidence. Loved by everybody.

Weinstein: Were you the only one born in the US?
BLANK: I was the only one born in the US.

Weinstein: And what jobs did your brothers have?
BLANK: My brother Sam was a clothing salesman. The last job before he went into his own business was at Fahey-Brockman, which was a clothing store here. Then he opened a store on Broadway and Washington, next door to Hilaire’s Restaurant, and that building got changed and he moved to Fifth and Washington, and had a store there for a good number of years: Stanley’s Clothing Store.

Weinstein: Sandy’s cousin married Dorothy Klegman.
BLANK: Dorothy worked there for a lot of years. My brother Joe was a salesperson in shoes and clothing. My brother Lou was a shoe salesman. He came back from the war. He and a man named Jack Burns, who bought the shoe concession of what was Ungar’s then. So they owned that shoe concession. From there they were also in the Lloyd Center, and when Best’s came down, they bought them out. In his senior years he worked for Nordstrom’s for a while.

Weinstein: That was Lou.
BLANK: That was Lou. My brother Ted was with a magazine publisher. Can’t think of the name. He was some kind of a sales representative for the magazine companies. Several of them.

Weinstein: And what about Abe?
BLANK: Abe was with the newspaper.

Weinstein: Oh, he stayed with the newspaper?
BLANK: Oh, yes. Always.

Weinstein: And Joe was with Lou in the shoes?
BLANK: No, Joe just worked as a salesperson. Fashion Bootery. Then he worked at Nudelman Bros as a clothing salesperson.

Weinstein: There’s a thread that runs through this about striking out and almost creating a place for yourself. And seems to kind of follow through for that generation of Jewish men in Portland. This was during the Depression years?
BLANK: Depression years. Yes. After. Well, we’re talking… the Crash was in 1929. The Depression really hit in ‘30 or ‘31. We started coming out of it in ‘36. Sam went into business about ’36. Then the war hit, and in ’41 there was a change in everything. The economy got pretty good, even though it was war time.

Weinstein: But they all kind of created their own place in the world.
BLANK: I would not say that exactly. They had jobs. Sam created a business. Lou created a business. Ted and Joe basically had jobs. Actually, at one time Ted had a grocery store at Green Hills Market on top of Patton Road, which was not too successful. Stroeheckers was the major competition. Anyway, Ted died very young. He was 37.

Weinstein: Did Ted leave a family?
BLANK: Yes, he did. A wife and two daughters. Back to my mother’s generation and age. Joannie’s grandmother would be involved. They had bridge clubs. They played bridge. This was way back. They were called the Sunshine Girls. Mrs. Asher and Mrs. Summeries, who was Martin Fischel’s grandmother, Mrs. Beckman, a couple of aunts.

Weinstein: Sherman and Jacobson.
BLANK: Yes. They were a group who socialized, played bridge for 10 cents a corner. Those women were all on the Eastside. That whole group was basically Eastside.

Weinstein: What was it like going to Grant High School?
BLANK: Grant High School was a lot of fun. Except, again, I worked. I did go to school only until 12:15 and then I went downtown to my brother’s Sam store. I did participate. I was on the rally squad, student council, that sort of thing.

Weinstein: Have you retained friendships?
BLANK: Yes, I have. I don’t see them, but they are still friends. High school was pleasant. I never really got a chance to be just a student. Those were the days when you worked. Even in college, when I went to school, Ossie Georges worked in the laundry and I sold shoes and Chandlers. Again, it was leave school at noon, work the afternoon and Saturday.

Weinstein: What did you study at Reed?
BLANK: I was going to be a meteorologist, but I never got that far, so I just had the basic courses at Reed.

Weinstein: A Liberal Arts curriculum.
BLANK: Liberal Arts. Yes.

Weinstein: I’m interested to know about your Jewish connections in the city. I know that you’ve been involved in so many different organizations. Could you tell us something about that involvement, what may have led to it?
BLANK: Well, I got involved in the community because my mother was in the Robison Home and I felt some obligations to be involved. So I got on the board there for quite a few years, and then worked up through the officers, and became president of the Robison Home for two years. That was almost a full time job. Then I also got involved in the Federation, became president of the Federation, spent a couple of years at that. And because of it I made many trips to Israel. Probably six or seven trips when I was president of Federation. Then we went, because we had family. We just went for social events. Went on missions and went just on vacation to Israel.

Weinstein: You had family in Israel?
BLANK: My wife had some cousins who lived on a Kibbutz… Kibbutz Naan. We’d go to visit them. We loved Israel. We enjoyed it. It was a hard trip to get there, but once we got there, we enjoyed it. As far as the Jewish part of my life, I served on the board of the Temple and served at the Robison Home and at the Federation. I was also involved in the Salvation Army. I was the treasurer and vice president. They wanted me to be chairman, but I wouldn’t do that. I said I didn’t think it was appropriate for a Jewish person to be chairman of a Christian organization.

Weinstein: How did that involvement come about?
BLANK: Phil Roth asked me to join that board. I think they needed a couple of token Jews or something. Phil Roth was on the board, and I was on the board. Then Sol Menashe followed. I think we were the only Jews on the board, but they always had some Jews on the board.

Weinstein: At that time. I wonder about now.
BLANK: I have no idea. I’m emeritus. I still get the information, but I don’t know if there’s… I’m trying to think. Yes, I did see someone there. I can’t recall the name, but I think there’s somebody on the board [who is Jewish].

Weinstein: Tell me about when you met …
BLANK: When the Tinklemans arrived, and I think Uncle Tinkleman was here probably at the same time my family came. And then my aunt came later via China.

Weinstein: They were married at that time, but they came at different times?
BLANK: Yes. They were married and with two girls. I’m not sure about the rest of the family, where they were born. The two girls I know traveled with them to China. Then they went from China to New York and from New York to Portland. Their goal was Portland.

Weinstein: And Mrs. Tinkleman was your mother’s sister?
BLANK: My mother’s sister.

Weinstein: Did you have a lot of cousins here?
BLANK: I did. I had the Tinkleman family. There was Belle, Claire, Isadore, Jack, and Mitzy.

Weinstein: I’m getting it all straight in my head now.
BLANK: That’s good. We’re involved with the Schneiderman family, but there’s no way I can figure that one out.

Weinstein: Well, there’s a lot of different Schneidermans. I know Schneidermans in Seattle are connected to Schneidermans here.
BLANK: Yes. They’re the ones from Coos Bay. But we’re on the fringe, somehow. That’s because my uncle, Mendel Schneiderman. They were also two families. The father had two wives, so the two older brothers… then there were a bunch of others, from Paul, Dina Rosen and Annie Hornstein. They were all part of the Schneiderman clan.

Weinstein: Tell me more about your brothers. I detect a real feeling of closeness that you had with them. Just tell me more about how the family interacted. Of course, they were a lot older than you.
BLANK: They were older. My brothers practically raised me. My father, in my teens, was by that point pretty sick. Went through surgery and stuff. He died when I was 16. So I didn’t really get to know my father that well. My brother Sam was a very sweet man, very superstitious man. Strictly cared about his family. I think he called my mother every day. He was very concerned about the family. Always. Big worrier.  Brother Abe was sort of the rock solid part of the family. Always financially solid. Worked two or three jobs. When he worked at the newspaper, he’d always have another something going on, with the magazines or some out of town newspapers. He was industrious and worked hard. My brother Lou was… Joe would come next. Joe was an interesting person. He died when he was 60, which is not very old. Joe was actually addicted to gambling. That was always a problem for him. But also kind and nice. Did you know him?

Weinstein: Oh yes. I knew them all.
BLANK: You knew them all, good.  And he was really a loving brother. He was a prize fighter in his youth. My brother Lou was his second, and when he saw Joe getting hurt, he’d throw in the towel. Lou was… I would describe him as more of an American type. He was a golfer and rode horseback. He was more of a sport. He was the sport in the family. Lou was the brother that really raised me, because we lived together for quite a few years. All my other brothers were married. Lou was not at the time. He didn’t get married until he was about 30 or 31. Lou married a gentile woman and that was, at that time, a little bit tough. Actually, he didn’t get married until my father passed away. My father wouldn’t let him. Then he got married. That was the saddest part of it.

Weinstein: It was not unusual at that time for that to happen?
BLANK: No. Anyway, he married a nice woman, Lyle, has two children, and he had a nice life.

Weinstein: Lou sold me the shoes that I wore to Marty Weinstein’s Bar Mitzvah and Marty is 45. He was a charming gentleman. I remember him. Very charming.
BLANK: He was Americanized. Drove fancy cars, convertibles.

Weinstein: Tell me about your romance with Fay.
BLANK: Let me get to Ted, because he was a sweet man. It brings tears to my eyes. He was a very loving, nice guy. I’m still quite close to his widow, Ann, and the two daughters they had are in close touch always. So we maintain that part of the family. Anyway… hang on a second. I really haven’t gotten over Ted’s death.

Weinstein: It’s a bitter sweet kind of thing. To have warm, wonderful memories, but to lose them.
BLANK: Back to Fay. Fay was a blind date arranged by Rita Hellman. Rita was a Wave. That’s Corky’s sister. Rita was a Wave in San Francisco and I bumped into her and she said she had this girl that I should meet. I called Fay and made a blind date. From that day on that was it.

Weinstein: So did you come to Portland right after you were married?
BLANK: Yes, we did. We came to Portland right after we were married. We got married in February of ’45, and it will be 60 years next February. We lived with her parents for a year in San Francisco, and then we came to Portland, and we lived with Sam and Zelma. My brother Joe got us an apartment in a poker game.

Weinstein: Did you come to Portland to be with family? Or was there some other compelling reason?
BLANK: I came to Portland to be with family, but I thought I had better opportunity to go in business here than any place else. And I was determined to go into business. I had made that decision. We were so wise in our thinking. We decided to have family. We didn’t have a place to live. We didn’t have a job or a business, but it was time to have a child, so… Interesting decisions. We came to Portland and Ethel took us to the furniture store. We had an apartment, we bought furniture, went into business with very little money.

Weinstein: Did you have any sense that being a Jew in the business community of any kind of resistance or arranging financing?
BLANK: Not at all. Not even slightly. I found that being a native in Portland helped when I went to the bank to borrow money. Being a native, and also some of the connections of friends and family, was a big help to get started. As a Jew, you’re always aware of the antisemitism. You’d be foolish not to be. And it’s latent or hidden someplace, but it never affected anything that I’m aware of. One thing it did. I wanted to go into the Multnomah Club, but at that time they were not accepting Jews. I had a partner when we started. We both applied. He was accepted and I wasn’t. He would not join. In fact, I had lunch with him today.

Weinstein: Really? That’s an interesting story. A nice story.
BLANK: That’s a long time ago. We were invited to the Multnomah Club to do work, but not to be members.

Weinstein: Times have changed.
BLANK: Yes. They sure have. Didn’t help the Jewish Community Center when the Multnomah Athletic Club opened up for Jews.

Weinstein: I’m just curious to know more about (because this is the Oregon Jewish Museum project) your life as a Jew in the general community, the fact that you have retained a mostly Jewish social circle.
BLANK: Yes. Primarily. But I think the experience of living in Laurelhurst and going to Grant High School… I wouldn’t say I was assimilated necessarily, but I think we kind of knew how to handle things and I don’t think there was a real problem. We’re certainly more comfortable in the Jewish environment than we are in a gentile environment. We’ve have the experience, Fay and I, by going to Hawaii, being in a total gentile environment and making some good friends with no problem. So I don’t think we have any serious problems in that respect. Certainly can’t think of any in business. Certainly, socially, we still have a few gentile social friends. In fact, the ones in Hawaii, we usually travel once a year with them someplace. I’ve often heard people use the excuse of prejudice for not getting what they wanted, but I didn’t really have that experience.

Weinstein: I think a lot has to do with a person’s attitude and outlook, as well. What your expectations are. 
BLANK: You’re always aware, you’d be silly not to be aware of it. Fay is interesting. She usually meets somebody and she’ll say, “Hello, I’m Fay Blank. I’m a democrat and I’m Jewish.” We solve all those problems right now.

Weinstein: Interesting!  What other things would you like to share with me that I haven’t touched on? Reminiscences or things about your family history?
BLANK: The days in South Portland were very special. We enjoyed that. I did. We lived in both worlds. That was helpful, I think, experience-wise. I can’t think of anything particularly interesting or exciting to tell you.

Weinstein: Did you take part in athletics at all?
BLANK: Not really. I’m not very athletic. Our company has had a bowling team. That sort of thing.

Weinstein: Tennis! You’re a tennis player.
BLANK: Fay and I play tennis, but I was never… I got out of most athletic stuff when I was a kid, for one reason or another. The work thing. I never had the time. But I was never very adept at it anyway.

Weinstein: I’ve always heard about you that you were a very giving and caring and generous person. And I’m probably embarrassing you by saying that, but can you tell me any influences in your early life that might have made you feel so strongly about those issues?
BLANK: I’m thinking. I think Fay is a contributing factor to my involvement — our involvement — in the community. My experience with my mother in the Robison Home is a contributing factor. A concern for Israel is a contributing factor. Compassion for those needs and causes. I had a very interesting experience, too. Everybody adds something to your life. My cousin, Isadore Tinkleman, was actually a great violinist, but he had some physical problems. Exposed to some culture, some music. I don’t know what title you’d use. He was head of the community music school here, which is a school for young people training primarily in a string instrument. We got involved in that, and I was on the board of that school and helped remodel a building. The city finally gave us an old fire station which we remodeled, primarily with the financial help of John Gray. We were out raising money and he contributed about 90% of the cost. So through Isadore we would go to lectures and meet the Isaac Sterns and have some experiences culturally. Through cousin Jack I met a whole different kind of people. I met the Merchant Marine people and they were different. But it’s also added to the experience and history. We got to know some of those people through Jack. So that’s another facet of education. I think that was pretty good. Those things sort of broadened my education. I always felt it was a little better base. And selling newspapers on the street gives you a lot of experience and street smarts. And you get to use some common sense. I think that was contributing to my education. All those things added to it.

Weinstein: It adds to your perspective on life.
BLANK: I know that Fay and I were always very concerned for the Black community. We were early on to hire Blacks in our business, both for secretarial work and as technicians. If not a technician, it would be an assistant helper. I guess those causes were interesting to us, important to us.

Weinstein: Tell me about your family, your immediate family, your sons.
BLANK: My sons. They’re all great. Bruce is a doctor and he’s well respected in his profession, was written up nationally. Unfortunately, he had some illness and retired young. Bruce has three kids — Benjamin, Liberty, and Jessica. Benjamin is a father. We have a great granddaughter who is four years old, courtesy of Bruce. Bruce is a really fine human being. I think Joannie can tell you that, too. Owen, our middle son, has four children. Josh is the oldest, and then there’s Adam, and Jared, and Alexis. Alexis is just graduating from Lincoln and going on to college. Josh is in town here. Going back to Bruce, his kids are scattered. Jessica is living in Hawaii, Benjamin in Los Angeles, and Liberty just was accepted to a graduate program in Holland in medical anthropology. I guess I’ll digress and say that Fay and I were pleased with all of our grandchildren. We saw them all getting Bar or Bat Mitzvahed. We have now seen five of our grandchildren graduate from college, which [graduations] we have attended. We have six who have graduated. We just have three left to graduate. And we’ve been able to attend those. And that’s important to us. First that we’re here, second that they’re graduating college.

Weinstein: You have a third son.
BLANK: Fred. He has two children, Lisa and Alex. Lisa graduated from college a couple or three years ago. She’s doing some [can’t hear]. She’s been teaching there and going on for some graduate work. She’s going to be in decorating. Alex is now in college in Boulder, Colorado. He’s just completed his freshman year. Alexis enters next year, that’s Owen’s youngest, going to University of Washington. Jared, who is Owen’s son, is just completing his junior year, so he’ll be a senior. So Fay and I try to be involved with those kids just as much as we can.

Weinstein: You’ve been a strong influence on them, I’m sure.
BLANK: Oh, I don’t know. But Josh is on the board of Federation. We skipped a generation there, anyway. But my grandson is on the board. Fay was one of the first women to be on the board of Federation. Fay and May Georges were the first two women to be on the board. Fay was president of Council of Jewish Women. Anyway, that’s pretty much the rundown on the kids. Fred is very happy with what he is doing now. He was in the store for a long time, and when we closed the store he went to being a stockbroker, investment counselor, something. And Fred is very happy. Doing well. So the kids are fine. They’re all great. The kids are great. I’m proud of them all.

Weinstein: Is there anything else that you’d like to add to this? Or, if you think of other things, you know, I could meet with you again, even if just for half an hour.
BLANK: I don’t know what we should cover, other than… I’m thinking…  There’s a lot more. I guess the part I really want to get explored is my brother Abe’s impact on the community. That’s important to me. I sure missed it in the first oral history account.

Weinstein: I’ve got time, if you want to talk about it.
BLANK: I can’t add too much more. I mean, I need to interview some people whom he helped at the Oregonian. At one of his birthday parties, when he was 75, several people came up to me and said how much of a help he was to them, including one of the editors of the Oregonian. He wanted to me to know what a big help he was. I think he had a big impact on the community, and I don’t know the depth of it. I don’t even know how to get there.

Weinstein: Do you know names?
BLANK: One was Hilliard. He was the one that came up to me.

Weinstein: Well, he’s still around. I don’t think he works for the paper.
BLANK: No, he retired. And several other people. And he was involved in the ex-newsboys. They had an association. Picnics and things.

Weinstein: Well, if you want to talk more now, or if you have thoughts later, or if you find out anything more, I’d be happy to get it all down.
BLANK: I don’t know what else there is to cover at this point in time.

Weinstein: Well, I thank you for giving us your time.
BLANK: It’s a pleasure.