A Labyrinth

He sent this to me about half a year ago. I don’t know how far he got in his memoirs. He is the only family member who’s picture hung on my wall. It is him with his arms spread out in front of the Louvre when he was about 60. I always planned to take the same picture and send it to him whenever I got to go to Paris. He was my Hero. But more than that he was my Zayde.

Miracles of Life

As I look at the calendar I realized that I reached my 80th birthday on the 24th of November . I ran and looked into a mirror. Wow there was an old geezer looking back at me. How did it happen? It seemed like yesterday that I was running around the world. It is a miracle that was a long time in happening. I stopped and thought . Where did it start?

-My father surviving WW 1.( Story my father told me.)

-Family coming to the USA after WW 1. Their town was completely destroyed during the second WW. The Germans even cleared the Jewish Cemetery.

-My father meeting my mother in Cleveland Ohio.

-My birth in November 24, 1929 at the beginning of the “Great Depression.”

-I remember playing in front of the house in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. I must have been just shy of four. I went between two parked cars and slipped. A passing car ran over me. I was between the wheels and emerged unhurt. ( Growing up in Williamsburg.)

-Many years later, I was playing with chemicals. My whole group of friends made explosives. I mixed red phosphorus and potassium chlorate. It exploded during the night and practically burnt my bedroom out. Just a little smoke inhalation, not a scratch. (Stories of “Our Gang”).

-During the second WW our gang developed a homemade rocket. We fired it off the pedestrian walk of the Williamsburg Bridge. It worked too well and landed in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The bridge walkway was closed for the duration. We were never caught but the Jewish community in Williamsburg and the East side of Manhattan, lost a favorite Taschlich place for the duration. I can’t imagine what would happen in these days. The incident was mentioned a couple of years ago on the TV.

-Fortunately I survived and was admitted to the City College of the College of New York. The first week I went to Hillel House. The first day I met my Beshert. The love of my life. The only women I ever went with. It was written that way. It was January 1947.More than 60 years later we are still together. God willing for all eternity.

-Joan was with me all through college. She lived in the Bronx and I in Brooklyn. We were an item. We met at the 145th street station and waited for each other. Every day we parted at the 145th street station. We ate lunch together and spent our spare time together. This was difficult. She majored in Art and I in Chemistry. We had many friends in common. It was amazing that we had the same beliefs,( Liberal Orthodox Judaism.) The same taste in music, art and culture. ( Classical and Modern.) The same Politics.( Slightly left of Center). We were both Zionists.( Belonged to the same organizations, picketed the UN). We celebrated in Times Square when The State of Israel was declared.) We both packed arms for Israel, during the War of Independence. ( CCNY stories 1947-1951)

-We married upon graduation.( Another story)

-We went to Lake George with Henny and Shelly Diamond. We took a cabin at Bolton Landing. One day Sheldon and I decided to rent a canoe and go out on the lake. As I remember the lake was over 2 miles wide. A summer thunder storm came up. We frantically tried to return. The winds turned the canoe over. We held on and managed to get in the lee of a small island. After the quick blow we righted the canoe and came back to the landing. We were frightened out of our wits and never told our wives. Afterwards we found out people often drowned in such incidents.

-I started graduate school and a menial job. Couldn’t get anything good since I was classified 1A in the draft. I finally was drafted and went for training.

-After training and preparing to ship out , an armistice was called and I remained in the United States. ( Adventures in the Army)

-I received CBR training. As part of the Radiological training I was supposed to go to Yucca Flats and observe an air burst of an atomic bomb. Our training for this event was, “Turn your back to the blast. When you feel the heat on the back of your neck, turn and look at the mushroom cloud through your dark glasses.” I was disappointed by being bumped off the plane by an officer who took my place. Over the years large numbers of people who worked at Yucca Flats died of cancer.
It was February. Spring has come to southern Georgia. I decided to drive alone to Savannah beach and take a dip in the ocean. There was no Life Guard. The beach was deserted. I got carried to sea by the undertow from the Savannah river and almost drowned. ( see swimming story)

-I was driving from Stewart Georgia to Columbus Ohio. It started to rain. I could hardly see. The road was covered with water in Pennsylvania. Looking ahead I saw a swinging light from a lantern. It was a highway patrol officer. He asked me from where was I coming ? I pointed to the flooded road. He told me that there was no road. It was closed. There was a bridge, but the river flooded over and it was closed. He told me to go up the next hill, pull off the road and take a nap. He commented that someone was watching over me.

-I was accepted at Ohio State. My expenses were covered by the G. I. Bill. There was a fire in the chemistry research labs. I happened to take my lab notebook home that night. Those that left their books in their desk, had to repeat much of their work.

-I applied for an internship at Battelle Memorial Institute. After two summers I got a full time job and continued classes across the road, on campus.

-I was running a reaction in a high pressure rocking reactor at Battelle Memorial Institute. The reaction took off and tore the head of the top. The five pound head flew off, punched a hole in a brick wall, went across a courtyard and through a window , into a vacant office. I had recently left the room, before the explosion.

-Worked at the Nuclear Reactor in West Jefferson Ohio. The janitor noticed that the reactor pool was filling up. We were working with many thousands of gallons of radioactive water. No one noticed but the janitor. Everyone got out safely.

There were hundreds of forks in the road of life. Each modified my destination. Each changed how I got to the present place. A few are as follows.

-I received a lifetime of radiation in a day. One of my coworkers put radioactive waste under my work station instead of in the ”lead cave”.

-Turned down job at Allegany Missile Lab and missed explosion.

-Went with the salesman from Allied Chemical to Nevamar on a sales call. Met Herb Scher who offered me a job.

-Left a job in Virginia just before Lab closed down. Worked at Nevamar or more than 30 years.

-Staph infection was misdiagnosed. Spent 4 weeks in hospital isolation. I remember dying and getting another chance.

-Phenolic Reactor Explosion in resin plant.

-Airplane from England runs out of fuel and lands in Iceland.

-Missed the Red Army attack at Tel Aviv airport by one day.

-Got fogged in going to Israel and landed in the Negev at an Air Force Base.

-Retired when International Paper bought Nevamar and started a Consulting business that lasted 14 years.

-Had many adventures in Europe, Israel, Asia and South America without a scratch.

-During a routine physical we found that my heart paused and stopped for as long as 9 seconds. Had a pacemaker installed to keep me going.

My advice is never take anything for granted. Every day is miraculous. Do not complain . One can never tell or understand why or how you were brought to this moment.

I believe it was for a purpose. Perhaps it was only to pass life to the next generation. Maybe they will accomplish what I did not.

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