Hillel and Sarah Horowitz in 1905
I grew up as an only child in one small house with both my parents and my grandparents. Grandpa Izzie and Grandma Mary died before I had a chance to ask them about their family stories and history. Too bad, because I believe in the power of families to influence our behavior over the generations, often without us being aware of the powerful force our ancestors carry upon us.
With this in mind, recently I arranged a visit with my mother’s first cousin, Sandy Horwitz, who at 94 is my oldest living relative. While I had not actually met Sandy until a few years ago, when I first saw him, I was struck by how much he reminded me of my grandfather, who was Sandy’s uncle. Same laugh. Same walk. Same beautiful eyes, still bright at age 94.
Last Saturday, I arranged to see Sandy in Toledo with his wife Phyllis, and his daughter, Laurie. My express purpose was to interview him and record some of his stories. Sandy is old enough to remember his own grandparents, my great grandparents who were born in Lithuania in the 1850s, and, as so many of our families have done, immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. When I got to Toledo, to my surprise and my delight, Sandy’s 20-year-old granddaughter was at their house and was eager to hear the family stories. It turns out Jess shares my passion about family history.
Before we got started, Jess told me that she was about to leave for a semester abroad in Argentina. Sandy, hearing about the trip, shared a story that he had heard from his grandfather, Hillel. In 1895, Sandy’s father, 14 yr. old William, embarked on a trip by himself from Lithuania all the way to South Africa. After three years there, Will decided that he really wanted to live in the United States and returned home to bring his family, including his younger brother, Izzie, to Detroit, where they had some relatives. Supposedly, he was influenced in his decision to come to the US by a young man named Samuel Goldwyn, whom we met on the boat from South Africa. This was the same man who later founded Metro Goldwyn Mayer, MGM.
As I sat there listening to Sandy and his beautiful wife Phyllis, I couldn’t help but imagine how my great-grandparents, Hillel and Sarah, would have felt, knowing that in 2016 their great-great-great granddaughter was hearing their story, delightfully and proudly narrated by their grandson. How amazing it would’ve been that this young girl was capturing their story on something called an iPhone which she held it magically in her hands. How amazed they would’ve been to know that she would travel from Detroit to Argentina in less than eight hours, when it had taken them months to go from Lithuania, across Europe, over the Atlantic, and across the USA to reach Detroit over 115 years earlier.
All the while Sandy was telling stories, I was thinking about Izzie and the way he used to tell me stories. I have much to be grateful for to him, not only my love of storytelling, but also the love of baseball and especially the Tigers and the University of Michigan teams. What a delight to learn that Sandy and his whole family are big University of Michigan and Detroit Tiger fans, even though they live in Ohio.
So in publishing this blog post today, I encourage you be sure to take the time to ask elderly relatives, about family stories and to record them on video. I now regularly post this as an assignment in my classes at the University of Michigan.
How special it was for me to know that I was interviewing a 94-year-old gentleman who knew my great-grandparents. And for Jess to be able to listen to her grandfather talk about her great-great-great-grandfather, whom he knew personally. I try to imagine what Jess’s children and grandchildren will be thinking when they watch the video of Sandy and Phyllis. No matter what the media, I know they will be amazed and get some great laughs from Sandy’s stories. Probably, Jess’s grandkids will be taking their semester abroad as an interplanetary adventure. She will be thrilled to recognize that as they departed, their laughter might sound just like Sandy’s hearty laugh.