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Father (Julius Glantz) came to New York on boat from Hungary
He came with his two older brothers and left the rest of his family in Hungary. Unfortunately, the rest of his siblings and family were unable to come to America and ended up dying during the Holocaust. -
Mother came to New York on a boat from Hungary
She came when she was only 13 years old.
(born Sadie Roth, later Sadie Glantz) -
Great Grandma Bernice Glantz was born
She was the youngest of 3 sisters. Born in Newark New Jersey. She was born in the house (54 16th Avenue) because her father was worried the doctors would switch babies while in the hospital. -
Family moved to Cambridge
The family chose to move to Cambridge, MA when she was 16 and in her senior year of high school. She was smart and able to skip a year in school resulting in her young age at graduation. -
After Bernice graduated High School, she started working.
She became a secretary at a place that manufactured fluorescent light fixtures. The place was on Covington Street. She was the secretary until the two male bookkeepers (17 or 18 y/o) got drafted into the war (WWII). She then took over the job of those two on top of her own job all by herself. She quit a few years later after being sexually harassed by the owner of the company -
Bernice became the bookkeeper for the United Jewish Appeal
she was at this job until she got married -
She got married to her first husband Leonard (Lenny) Abrams
They met on a blind date which was set up by mutual friends. -
Bernice and Lenny move into their first place together
Bernice only left home to live without her parents once she was married. They moved to an apartment in Cambridge - 850 Mass Ave. The Star Realty office was in the basement of their apartment building. -
Bernice started working for Star Realty
Star Realty was a struggling realty company started by her husband's parents. After several years in the pharmaceutical industry, Lenny joined the family business and was able to expand and eventually generate annual revenue of $12M. She was the bookkeeper for this company. The company was in commercial real estate sales. -
Bernice gave birth to her first daughter Susan - when she was 6 months old they moved into a house.
They moved into a house in Newton, 60 Waban Hill Rd. She has lived here ever since and after their initial decorating, she has made no updates/renovations to the house. -
Bernice had her second and final child a girl named Leslie.
During this time she was a stay-at-home mom but still did the bookkeeping for Star Realty. -
At age 36 Bernice got her driver's license.
Having grown up in the city, Bernice didn't see a need to get driver's license. After moving to Newton, she took lessons but didn't tell anyone in case she didn't pass. Her first car was a Ford Taurus wagon - It was an automatic car and she never learned to drive a stick shift. -
Bernice got her real estate license.
Lenny was getting sick and he wanted her to take over the family business when he was gone. She didn't want to get her license but he challenged her and said he didn't think she could do it and so she wanted to prove him wrong. She studied for hours, even when he took her on a cruise, and she passed the test on her first try. -
Lenny died of colon cancer.
After Lenny died, she took over the company and had about 6-8 brokers working for her. Irving Fanger was Lenny's lawyer. -
Bernice retired and closed Star Realty.
This was at a time when the commercial real estate market was doing poorly. She was 64. -
Irving Fanger's wife died
Irving Fanger and Pearl Palefsky were married for over 50 years when Pearl passed away. They had four girls together together. -
Bernice and Irving got married
Coming into the marriage, Irving was the father to Barbara Fanger Shuman, Carol Fanger Bell, Laora Fanger, and Linda Jokinen. Bernice was coming in with Rabbi Susan Abramson and Leslie Abramson. Combined, Irving and Bernice had ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, me being one of them. Barbara is my grandmother and my mom's mother. Barbara had two girls, My mom Merrill and my Aunty Karen. -
Evan and Alexandra (Zanny) were born (mother Karen).
Evan and Zanny were the first two of Bernice and Irving's great-grandchildren. They are also my first cousins. -
Merrill and Rob Puopolo got married.
Merrill was grandaughter number 2 of Irving's 10 grandchildren. And she will tell you, his favorite. -
Rob and Merrill had their first child Sofia.
Sofia was one of Bernice and Irving's great-grandchildren and my older sister. -
Rob and Merrill had their second child John.
John was one of Bernice and Irving's eight great-grandchildren. -
Irving Fanger died leaving Bernice a widow for the 2nd time.
Irving was a WWII Veteran and a graduate of Yale University (Class of 1939) and Harvard Law School (Class of 1942). -
Bernice's 100th birthday!!
Bernice continues to live alone in the same house she moved into 70 years ago and cherishes her family and really enjoys visits from my mother and me. She has lived a fascinating long life and I was happy to learn and document her history.