Here is a photograph taken at the bar mitzvah of Eileen and Lou’s son, the gardener’s cousin. From left to right are Danny Vendola, Charlotte Riskin Vendola, matriarch Celia Goodstein Scheshko, Eileen Scheshko Horowitz, Louis D. Horowitz, Diana Shulman Scheshko Castle, Murray Scheshko Castle, and Charlotte and Danny’s best friends on the far right.
Since I have posted on this blog so irregularly I will remind you who they are. Diana and Murray, as you probably do know, are the gardener’s parents–hence, my in-laws. I’ve written quite a bit about Murray and Diana and plan to move on to Diana’s family soon.
I’ve also written many posts about the gardener’s grandmother, Celia. Yes, she’s teeny. I know you were thinking or saying that to yourself because everyone always does. At this point, in 1968, her husband Isidore has been gone for at least fifteen years.
Eileen is Murray’s only sibling. She was married to Lou, and last week I wrote about Lou’s famous paint store. Charlotte was the only known/American/living first cousin of Murray and Eileen. She lived in Stamford with her husband, Danny Vendola. They did everything with their best friends, which is, I imagine, why the couple is in this family portrait. One day they no longer were friends, and Charlotte never spoke of them again.
What kids were part of this family, though not in the photo?
Well, Eileen and Lou had two children, their son whose big day this was, and their first-born, daughter Michelle. (I don’t like to use names of living family members, in most cases, but Michelle has passed away. I wrote briefly about Michelle in More About Eileen.
Murray and Diana also had one boy and one girl, the gardener and his sister. Charlotte and Danny did not have children.
So the Scheshkos were a small family. What members of the family were left behind when Isidore and Celia came to this country (separately) from what was then known as Russia is unknown at this point.
I look like Celia (in height) in every group picture. π
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π€£ so funny, Merril! Thatβs so you can take your rightful center of attention.
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π
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Oh – great photo and family fun! Reading through the family names were so familiar – remembering some of your posts and family stories. Sounds like you might have some missing family members too. More research fun awaits π
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More awaits!
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Wonderful to have this family photograph—thank goodness for weddings and bar mitzvahs! So what happened to break up the best friends’ relationship? Family secret??
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I know–without the events we would never have this photos. Nobody seems to know what happened! My guess is it might have been a business/money thing that went bad. That seems to happen quite often to people.
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So true. I’ve seen it many times among actual living people!
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It’s so sad.
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Luanne you have inspired me to work on my family. My ancestors come from Austria, the part closest to Hungary. I joined a group of fellow researchers for that area and a man who lives in the same town my paternal grandmother came from has contacted me. He and I are not related but he has given me a lot of information and even a picture of the house circa 1920-ish. It is so interesting. You have much more family data than I do. I don’t have any pictures of this grandmother. Love your stories.
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Thanks, Kate. Oh, I’m so glad you are going to continue to work on your family history! You just never know –if you make enough connections, it ispossible a photo might appear somewhere from someone else’s collection!
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Having been through terrible betrayals and infidelities among friends without speaking for years, I am very curious about the friends who were never spoken of again.
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Yes, your guess is as good as mine. My guess is that it was about business and/or financial. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through those awful experiences with friends.
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