Annette

My mother told me two weeks ago that my making the decision to come home to spend time with my grandmother was "a selfish thing to do." Then last week she told me how appreciative she and my father were for me being here to relieve them of the burden of my grandmother and the Alzheimer's that is tearing through her.

Introspection is a curious thing. It is purely selfish. My thoughts after mother dear told me how selfish I was were along the lines of "this is the most selfless thing I have ever done in my life."

Reading my blog posts made me think that I am being selfish....this blog seems to be all about me....and  it really isn't. So here goes.

My grandmother's name is Annette Ingber Streichler, born in Manhattan on March 14, 1926. She is the third child and second daughter of Jacob Ingber and Rivka (Rose) Ingber (nee Wilner), now deceased for many years....I am named for Jacob and my Hebrew name is Rivka. Anne had one brother, Samuel, 17 years her senior, and one sister, Bertha, 14 years her senior. Yes, Anne is a change of life baby. Jacob came to the United States from Hungary, and was a successful tailor, which made the years of the Great Depression a bit easier for this part of my family. One of the tailors who worked for him was a man by the name of Aaron Streichler, my other great-grandfather, father of my now deceased grandfather, Isidore.

At the age of 8, my great aunt Bertha tried to kill Anne by strangulation. Aunt Bertha spent the rest of her life in mental wards. However, Anne thrived at school excelling at typing and stenography. At the onset of World War II, she became engaged to my grandfather, Isidore, who enlisted in the United States Navy. They were married on December 10, 1944 and then moved to Key West, Florida, where he was stationed. She worked as a civil servant on base while Izzy worked on a minesweeper in the Pacific Theatre.

After the war ended, they moved in with Anne's parents while Izzy went to Pratt to get a degree in draftsmanship and engineering. Anne obtained a job as a secretary. They then moved to Queens, where my mother Susan was born. To be continued....with pictures.