Zelda Friedlander was born Zelda Smirman

visits

When I was young I used to visit my grandparents every weekend. My grandfather would pick me up after school on Friday nights, or my mom would bring me to the Port Authority bus, and I would go to their apartment in Perth Amboy, NJ.

I remember Friday nights we would eat dinner, which was almost always either roast chicken or pot roast, with a grapefruit appetizer. At nights we would watch TV (I remeber The Dukes of Hazzard and The Incredible Hulk being my favotites), they would give me a bath (my only one since my last visit), and my grandfather and I would stay up eating ice cream and watching wrestling.

On Saturdays I would watch cartoons and go with them to the synagogue. Then we would either go to the movies or the mall. I remember my grandmother would buy me such margain clothes, like two non-name sneakers for five dollars.

As I got into my teens, my visits became less frequent.

Jerusalem 1983

Man, I miss my mom. I was going through some photo albums today in an effort to clear some of my clutter on my 10' bookshelves in my living room.

Going through these albums made me miss her more than I normally do. I miss being able to pick up the phone and just say "hello, what's up?" and I miss her chicken smothered (and I do mean suhmuthered!) in garlic that she made on Friday nights. Yum!

Anyway, here's a picture taken of the two of us when we were in Israel together back in the summer of '83. It was taken in Jerusalem at the end of a tour to the Wailing Wall.

thoughts from Eric Kamander

Everybody always said how nice my grandmother was and how she would give you the shirt off her back. The biggest criticism of my grandmother was that she was sometimes too nice. When I was a child I used to visit my grandparents almost every weekend. My grandmother showed me lots of love and I miss her.

1991

Cruising The Hudson With Aunt Dot & Aunt Etty

Larry's Bar Mitzvah

with Gypsy

Thanksgiving

at a party

at Dina's Batmitzvah

Thanksgiving

at Marc's first wedding

1970

1969 - Zelda, Gypsy, Marc, Debbie, Jack

1969 - with Linda, Dina, and Larry

1959 - Linda, Zelda, Ed, Marc, Debbie, Gypsy

Anne & Paul's Wedding

front row: grandpa grandma chana paul great grandma and great grandpa back row uncle jack aunt zelda my mom and dad aunt etty aunt dot uncle benny

1947

starting with 3rd person: aunt etty, grandpa pincus, grandma ruchel, aunt dot, uncle benny, auntie anne, aunt zelda